House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to move forward Thursday on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure vote in hopes of nailing down a legislative victory for President Biden, but remained coy about the bill’s support in her Democratic House caucus.
The fate of the infrastructure package is tied to whether House and Senate Democrats can reach a deal on a separate, larger $3.5 trillion social spending “reconciliation” bill that liberals support but Senate moderates have refused to endorse in its current form.
“We will have a reconciliation bill. That is for sure,” Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, told reporters. “We cannot convince people to vote for the infrastructure bill without a clear path for reconciliation,” she added.
Known to never bring key votes to the floor that did not have the numbers to pass, Mrs. Pelosi promised centrist Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, that a vote on the stand-alone infrastructure bill vote would happen by Thursday after previously postponing the legislation on Monday.
The speaker would not say if she planned on delaying the infrastructure vote if there were not enough lawmakers supporting the legislation, which includes Republican defections in favor of the bill.
When pressed further by reporters if she planned to have the vote on Thursday if she lacked the numbers, she replied, “I do not plan on not doing anything. I plan on moving forward in a positive way. … We’re on a path to win the vote.” She added, “I don’t want to consider any option other than that.”
With slim majorities in both chambers, Democratic House progressives placed Mrs. Pelosi in a jam after to sink the infrastructure legislation if the caucus did not agree to tack the bill on to President Biden’s $3.5 trillion welfare spending package.
The more considerable spending measure is unlikely to pass the upper chamber as written, and Mrs. Pelosi made it clear to her caucus she did not want to pass legislation that had no chance to pass the Senate.
House Democrats are desperate to pass the infrastructure bill, a centerpiece of Mr. Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. The legislation, previously passed in the Senate with bipartisan support, will only need a simple majority after it passes the House.
However, two Senate Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, take issue with the $3.5 trillion price tag on Mr. Biden’s separate welfare package that progressives wanted to bond to the infrastructure bill.
The decision to whether to move forward with the vote was made more difficult Wednesday evening after Mr. Manchin told reporters there was no chance of reaching a deal for a framework on the larger spending bill to satisfy the liberals in the caucus to get their support of Thursday’s planned infrastructure vote.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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