Pelosi scrambles to pass trillion dollar infrastructure bill

by



[ad_1]

Pelosi told reporters she is on the verge of bringing the two wings of her party together as she strives to secure enough votes to pass the bill passed by the Senate, which would spend hundreds of billions. dollars to upgrade roads, bridges, transit, railways, broadband, airports, ports and waterways.

Asked by CNN how she would describe this stage of negotiations, Pelosi called it “constant invigoration.”

Pelosi’s efforts to pass the infrastructure bill are complicated by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who said Thursday he would support a much smaller $ 1.5 trillion bill expanding the social safety net.
White House officials are regrouping with key aides from Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and try to see if they can strike a deal with Manchin and his fellow moderate Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of the Arizona on a social safety net, according to a senator familiar with the matter.
LIVE UPDATES: Congress avoids government shutdown but infrastructure battle looms

With a divided Senate and a thin hold over the House, Democrats are leveraging their power to ensure their colleagues support their bills, which are President Joe Biden’s national agenda.

Biden and Democratic leaders' way forward fainting after failing to strike infrastructure deal

Progressives say they will withhold their support for the bipartisan infrastructure package until moderates strike a deal with them on the Build Back Better Act. Washington State Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told CNN she was not worried that her fellow Liberals would break ranks.

“I have never seen our caucus so strong,” Jayapal said. “And I’m a really good vote counter as well, maybe not as good as Nancy Pelosi at times, but I’m excellent.”

But at least a dozen House Republicans are expected to vote for the roads and bridges bill, allowing Pelosi to lose some limbs on his left flank.

A source told CNN that Pelosi succeeded in overthrowing some Democrats in the “yes” column on Thursday.

“The number (of non-votes) is dropping,” the source said.

New Jersey Representative Josh Gottheimer, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solver Caucus, confirmed that he and Pelosi were both whipping Democrats to the ground in the latest round of votes.

“She does,” he said. “It’s Pelosi magic.”

This story was updated with additional developments on Thursday.

CNN’s Manu Raju and Jessica Dean contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link