Biden’s agenda in limbo amid “intense” reconciliation talks, with Dems allegedly holding infrastructure “hostage”

The two main points of President Biden’s economic agenda are on hold this week as Democrats continue “intense discussions” over their $ 3.5 trillion spending plan and some Republicans warn that their support for the bipartisan bill over $ 1 trillion infrastructure could evaporate. .

“It’s completely derailed,” Republican Gov. of Maryland, Larry Hogan, told Fox News. Hogan is a moderate who heads the “No Labels” group, which worked with moderate Republicans and Democrats to lobby for the infrastructure bill earlier this year. Hogan was one of his loudest amplifiers outside of Congress.

“We have worked for a while to negotiate a bipartisan infrastructure bill that did not include any of this additional spending. We have the president committing to it. We have the Senate to pass it,” said Hogan. “And then the House is now saying that if we can’t use our three and a half trillion dollars of other things that we took out of this compromise bill, they won’t.”

The Senate passed the infrastructure bill last month with great fanfare. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Progressives have been saying for weeks that they will not vote for it without guarantees that Congress will pass a reconciliation bill to their liking.

After a clash with moderates who wanted guaranteed a vote on the infrastructure bill and threatened to defeat the budget resolution that allows Democrats to bypass the Senate obstruction, Pelosi set a tentative date for a vote on infrastructure on September 27.

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Confirmed the Sept. 27 vote at the end of the week, prompting many progressive Democrats to hesitate, arguing that the reconciliation must be completed. This dynamic, in which infrastructure votes for some members are dependent on some reconciliation outcome, is leading some House Republicans to question whether they should vote for the infrastructure bill.

“President Pelosi is absolutely holding the infrastructure bill hostage… It’s not just nine or ten Democrats worried about the mind-boggling size of the combined $ 4.7 trillion package. ‘There could be 100 Democrats who have concerns,’ Rep. Dusty Johnson said. , RS.D., told Fox News this week. “

“I think Nancy Pelosi has done this whole process a huge disservice by binding them so tightly and she continues to do so. And that makes it very difficult to get Republicans to the party,” Johnson, member of the Resolver Caucus of problems (PSC), added. “It’s hard to get excited about the trillion dollar deal if in any way it makes the trillion dollar deal more likely to be successful.”

“This divisive political gamble in the House could end up killing the infrastructure bill, which we desperately need,” Hogan said. “It appears that now the administration Biden and Pelosi are trying to wrest defeat from the clutches of victory.”

As some Republicans point fingers at House progressives and Pelosi – Johnson called the “Squad” “legislative terrorists” – Hogan said Biden was fundamentally responsible for the precarious situation.

“The real blame lies with the White House and the President because, you know, he made a commitment to us, to Republicans and Democrats, to problem solvers, to our Senate group that he was going to push forward. this bill, “Hogan mentioned. “And it’s one thing to say you’re for a compromise and infrastructure bill. But, you know, it’s just kind of disguised as a compromise. If you say we’re not going to go into it. talk unless we can scramble all the other stuff in the three and a half trillion dollars. I mean, it’s a false compromise. It’s a dishonest compromise. “

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The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the state of reconciliation and infrastructure negotiations and to respond to Hogan’s comments.

The centrist governor PAC No Labels is putting all his weight in the effort to stop the reconciliation bill. He posted an ad this week asking, “You want to know what’s really crazy? 3.5 trillion dollars spread over three weeks by one party – one party! “

Another threat to the president’s agenda is the possibility that moderate Democrats could bail out the reconciliation package if it is too left for their liking. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Last week, for example, criticized the rushed process and the garish price tag of the reconciliation bill. She voted against the Ways and Means Committee portion of the bill, but her office made it clear that she could still be a “yes” on the final product.

Three Democrats on the House Energy and Trade Committee voted against his part of the bill on controlling the price of prescription drugs. And some moderates are making it very clear that they will not support a bill that does not repeal the cap on state and local tax deductions.

President Biden and the Democrats, however, remain optimistic about their ability to keep all of their members on board for the two major bills and possibly pass the president’s full agenda.

“The vision and insight of President Biden and the Congressional Democrats, combined with the hard work of everyone, starting with the Congressional staff, has kept us on schedule for the Build Back Better program,” said Pelosi this week.

“This is going to be a lot of intense discussion and negotiation over the next few weeks,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y, said on Wednesday. “There are members of our caucus who want it above 3.5. There are members of our caucus who want it below 3.5. We will have to meet and we will meet. have done in the past, we have come together on every major issue. “

Schumer added: “Every member of our caucus without exception realizes that our unity is our strength. Everyone will have a say – because with 50 votes, every member has a say – but we will come to an agreement. And my goal. , which I believe I’m going to achieve, which we will achieve as a country, is to have a strong, robust plan that includes all the parts of what Biden asked for. ”

“I am confident that Congress will deliver to my office both the bipartite infrastructure plan and the Build Back Better plan that I have proposed,” the president added Thursday.

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Other Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that reconciliation is an urgent priority and that moderates must join us.

“We are going to spend $ 3.5 trillion to pick up the climate chunks sooner than we would like if we do not act,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. “Just yesterday the President was in Idaho to assess the terrible damage caused by the wildfires and he said we cannot continue to ignore the reality.

Democrats may be stuck in negotiations over the reconciliation effort until the fall, despite their initial goal of pushing through the legislation by the end of September or early October. They will soon have to shift their focus to funding the government through continued resolution and increasing the debt limit, which could put items on the president’s agenda on the back burner for a few weeks. .