Ah, there, live blog readers. Good Tuesday.
Joe biden Head towards Michigan today to talk about … yeah, what else, the bipartite infrastructure bill and the reconciliation invoice (also known as Rebuild Better Act).
The $ 1 billion infrastructure bill to improve roads, bridges, public transport and broadband and $ 3.5 billion the reconciliation bill on the “human infrastructure” of social services and environmental measures are the hot topics of the week, with a October 18 deadline looming on the debt limit and Republicans showing these two bills as proof that expenses through Democrats is out of control.
Republicans have been saying since July that they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling and that Democrats will have to do it themselves. Republicans again use the obstruction, which requires 60 votes to break and have twice blocked Democrats’ efforts to raise the debt ceiling. They are also expected to block their efforts on Wednesday.
Democrats could raise the ceiling with a majority of 51 votes, but they’re already trying that with the spending bill and don’t want to complicate matters. They also point out that they voted with Republicans to raise the cap as Republicans and the Trump administration spent hugely.
The Senate leader of the minority, Mitch McConnell, sent a letter straight to Biden yesterday, bypassing the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, and the lodge Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, reiterating how serious it is to force Democrats to do it themselves.
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to discuss the ins and outs of the reconciliation bill, with centrist senators Joe manchin and Kyrsten Cinema pushing to make the package smaller and progressives fighting to vote for it as is the case with the infrastructure bill so that it has a better chance of being passed.
Much more to come, of course.