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- House centrists criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday for the delayed vote on infrastructure.
- Moderates have demanded a vote on the bipartisan bill, while progressives lament the stalled reconciliation bill.
- “I am deeply disappointed and disillusioned with this process,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy from Fla.
Democratic Reps Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Stephanie Murphy of Florida, two key centrist lawmakers, criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday for her failure to submit the bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure package to the vote this week.
Both lawmakers lamented that the California Democrat postponed voting on the package, which was easily passed in the Senate in August, due to internal divisions within the party.
For months the Progressives and Pelosi herself pledged to pass the bipartisan bill and the Tandem Democrat-led infrastructure package, while centrist Democrats have long called for passage of the bipartisan bill. without being tied to the most important party bill.
Discontent among House centrists boiled over after the party was unable to find a way forward on the bipartisan bill, which would inject much needed funding for transportation projects across the country, with Pelosi becoming the target . President Joe Biden even came to Capitol Hill on Friday to propel negotiations and rally support for infrastructure bills among Democratic lawmakers.
Gottheimer sank into legislative backlog, while also calling on “far left” Democrats for inaction, comparing their actions to the political intransigence practiced by the Conservative Freedom Caucus.
“It is deeply regrettable that President Pelosi has failed to live up to her firm and public commitment to members of Congress and the American people to vote and pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27 at the latest,” he said in a statement. declaration. “Along with a group of MPs, I worked tirelessly to push through the bipartisan infrastructure bill, legislation that we helped craft in April with my Senate colleagues. But a small, far-left faction of the House of Representatives undermined that deal and blocked a critical vote on the president’s landmark bipartisan infrastructure bill. ”
He added: “We cannot allow this small, far-left faction – which employs Freedom Caucus tactics, as described by The New York Times today – destroy the president’s agenda and stop the creation of two. millions of jobs a year – including for the millions of hard-working men and women. “
Murphy, co-chair of the Moderate Blue Dog Coalition, also expressed exasperation at the delayed vote.
“I am deeply disappointed and disillusioned with this process,” she said in a statement. “While I have great respect for the Speaker, I believe her decision to postpone the vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill again is wrong. The Speaker has promised that the House will consider this bill on the 27th. September and that she would rally the voices to ensure the bill has the best chance of being passed.
She added: “The President delayed the vote because some of my fellow Democrats, in a misguided effort to gain ‘leverage’ over their fellow Democrats in negotiations over the separate Build Back Better Act, threatened to vote against a very good infrastructure bill. I hope my colleagues will reconsider their approach. “
In relaying their frustrations, Gottheimer and Murphy point to the House progressives, who rejected passage of a bipartisan bill without also approving the reconciliation bill, which was their source of frustration in Both Sense Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona refuse to back the projected $ 3.5 trillion price tag.
Progressives, who initially called for a larger $ 6 trillion reconciliation bill earlier this year, already feel the $ 3.5 trillion is a compromise amount and are furious that the bill, which would provide essential investments in healthcare, childcare and climate initiatives, could be wiped out. even lower.
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