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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team are mounting a lobbying campaign on centrist Democrats to get them to support their party’s budget resolution without voting on the bipartisan infrastructure bill – and they now have White House support for a procedural move to move them forward together next week.
“Today, President Biden approved the House rule that will allow us to consider the budget resolution, HR 4 and the bipartisan infrastructure bill next week,” said Pelosi, D-Calif., in a letter Tuesday. “[A]Any delay in adopting the budget resolution could threaten our ability to pass this essential legislation through reconciliation. This undermines the unique opportunity we face to implement initiatives that meet the needs of working families at this critical time. ”
Pelosi’s letter followed a carefully crafted statement from White House spokesman Andrew Bates supporting the “rule” proposed by the speaker. That would advance infrastructure and the budget resolution – which unlocks the reconciliation process through which Democrats hope to squeeze their $ 3.5 trillion spending plan without GOP votes – in tandem. The proposed rule also includes a voting bill.
But it is simply a procedural mechanism of bringing bills to the House. There would be separate votes on the final adoption of each bill. The White House has not taken a position on when these votes should take place.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Hosts a press conference at the Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday, July 1, 2021. Pelosi is engaged in a showdown with moderate members over how the House will handle the bipartisan bill on infrastructure and the Democrats’ budget resolution. (Photo by Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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“All three are essential parts of the president’s agenda, and we hope every Democratic member will support this effort to advance these important legislative actions,” Bates said.
Majority Whip James Clyburn, DS.C., Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., And Transport Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Also leaned on the membership for support the vote on next week’s budget resolution. The campaign comes as a group of moderate Democrats led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., threatens to torpedo it until the House passes the infrastructure bill.
Gottheimer in several public appearances has not backed down from his group’s demands – although he has told Politico and Punchbowl that he is ready to negotiate with Pelosi. And his group gained influence this week when Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Told Fox News he believed there were enough Republicans who supported the infrastructure bill to compensate the Democrats. who could vote against without a reconciliation bill.
But with less than a week before the House returns, the group of nine moderates will have to stick together amid intense pressure from the top Democrats.
Representative Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., holds a press conference with other members of Congress to highlight the need for bipartite and bicameral COVID-19 relief legislation outside the United States Capitol on 3 December 2020, in Washington, DC Gottheimer is the leader of a group of nine moderate Democrats who say they will vote against the Democrats’ budget resolution until the House passes the bipartisan infrastructure bill. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
“I hope neither of us will do or say anything that would jeopardize the passage of these bills,” Clyburn said during a caucus call Tuesday. “These bills are essential for us to maintain our majority, and this must reign supreme.”
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“It has been clear in the Senate, the House and the White House that we will do all of the above and I hope we all vote for the rule on Monday night,” Hoyer added.
“Unfortunately, the Senate infrastructure investment and jobs law… does not meet many of the House’s priorities,” DeFazio said in a separate letter Monday. “The Senate exercised unilateral control over the infrastructure bill. If we want the priorities of the House to be taken into account, we cannot let the same happen in reconciliation.”
Gottheimer and his group of moderates said earlier this week that they “appreciate the procedural move forward” of the bipartisan bill in the rule proposed by Pelosi. But they reiterated that he should get a stand-alone vote “without delay”.
It’s unclear how all of the moderates will vote on Pelosi’s reign next week. But none of them publicly distanced themselves from voting against the budget resolution in a subsequent vote.
The Democrats’ agenda will be stalled until one side moves. If the stalemate continues, it could endanger both laws with such tenuous Democratic majorities.
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And Fitzpatrick threatened this week that Republicans could backfire on the bipartisan infrastructure bill if Democrats delay voting on it. The GOP’s unanimous opposition to infrastructure could allow a handful of House Democrats – potentially progressive who think it doesn’t go far enough – to block this element of Biden’s agenda.
Nonetheless, Pelosi is adamant that Democrats will not pass infrastructure and that the position of moderates is detrimental to the party. “This is not amateur hour,” she said on Monday, according to Politico.
“Although the bipartisan infrastructure bill offers important progress, it does not reflect the full vision of Democrats,” added the speaker in her letter on Tuesday. “We must also introduce the Build Back Better bill which includes our priorities that meet the needs of American families.”
Fox News’ Caroline McKee and Peter Doocy contributed to this report.
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