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White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki expressed cautious optimism on ongoing infrastructure negotiations on Friday, saying the administration has confidence in the aggressive plan of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer , to move bills forward.
Schumer would be the starting point on “the timing, process and sequencing of votes,” Psaki said in a White House briefing.
“We are certainly working closely with him, and we certainly have confidence in the path he is setting out for the legislative process,” she added.
Schumer said on Thursday that he wanted to hold a vote next week to continue the legislative process on infrastructure, a goal complicated by the fact that no legislation yet exists. Psaki said President Biden was prepared to do whatever he could to help bring the bills closer to final adoption.
“As to what he will do, the president is ready, willing, able, eager to play any constructive role he can play in bringing this legislation to the finish line,” Psaki said. “Will that mean phone calls?” Sure. Will it mean bringing more people to the White House? It probably will.
Schumer is attempting to run two bills at once, a delicate balancing act that could be thwarted by the objections of any Democratic senator. Part one is a $ 1.2 trillion bipartisan deal that would provide funding for physical infrastructure, like bridges and roads, and require 60 votes – or at least 10 Republicans – to pass.
A number of Democratic officials have criticized the bill as lacking in initiatives to tackle climate change and falling short of many of Biden’s other progressive promises and priorities. These concerns led to Part Two: a much more ambitious $ 3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill.
Using the budget reconciliation process, Democrats could pass the legislation by simple majority, but they will need their 50 members to agree on the package, including moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va. , who expressed support for some sort of reconciliation deal. The reconciliation proposal includes important provisions on education, child care and climate change, as well as an expansion of Medicare to include dental and vision insurance, and higher taxes for wealthier Americans. If Democrats are successful in passing it, the final version is likely to differ from the plan presented this week as adjustments are made to get everyone on board.
“I will note that the President is quite familiar with the roller coaster and the ups and downs of legislation, having spent 36 years there, and having even had some success in recent months working with lawmakers,” said Psaki Friday.
“Our team members had a constructive and productive meeting yesterday,” she added, “and I will also note that there are a number of Republicans and Democrats who feel the same way about the path to follow.”
As it stands, the White House does not have enough support to pass either bill. Biden, a Capitol Hill veteran, left the Oval Office to attend a lunch with Senate Democrats on Wednesday in the hope that a face-to-face meeting could gain the unanimous support of the Democratic caucus needed for the two projects of law not yet fully finalized.
Over lunch, Biden received several rounds of standing ovations from progressives and moderates, a clear indicator that large swathes of the party are ready to support his infrastructure program on the Senate floor. Yet once again critical party moderates, including Manchin, have yet to telegraph their vote on either bill. The West Virginia senator did not voice his positions at the lunch meeting, which he later told reporters as “out of respect” for Biden. Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, another moderate, also went silent on Wednesday.
In a statement released before lunch, Manchin said he planned to “reserve final judgment until I have a chance to thoroughly assess the proposal.”
Manchin is unlikely to recover the bill after reviewing the contents, as he has privately revealed to his colleagues that he is not interested in prolonging the reconciliation process and that he broadly supports much of the process. Biden’s program. While the support of each Democratic senator is necessary, given the small margin of the hemicycle, the defection of a small group of Democrats of all ideological persuasions could also torpedo the reconciliation bill.
Even though Biden and Schumer are able to secure their entire caucus behind the measure, GOP support remains precarious.
Despite the White House’s urging that lawmakers can back each measure separately – reversing Biden’s short-lived veto threat – several key Republicans in the Senate are now suggesting that their failure to revise the final text of the reconciliation bill, coupled with its high price tag, could threaten existing Republican support for the bipartisan deal.
Second-row Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota said the recently unveiled reconciliation bill “muddies the waters” for members of his party.
“I don’t think it helps,” Thune said in an interview with NBC News. “We have members who really want to get an infrastructure bill. And I want to look at the entire infrastructure bill on its own. But it’s terribly difficult, when they continue to link them publicly, not to see it through that lens. And I think that makes it difficult for a lot of Republicans to pass the infrastructure bill. “
When asked if he was confident he could keep both moderates and progressives on board, Biden said Thursday: “I understand why the press, among others, are skeptical about the possibility of making this deal. on infrastructure and on human infrastructure. And I’ve watched and listened, and the press has declared my initiative dead at least 10 times so far. I don’t think he’s dead. I think he’s dead. still alive.
A new Yahoo News / YouGov poll found overall support for an infrastructure package, but this varied depending on party affiliation. In the poll, 36% of those polled said Congress should adopt both plans, 20% said it should only adopt the bipartisan plan and 12% were against both plans. A majority of Democrats (61%) were in favor of adopting both plans, a position favored by a narrow plurality of independents (34%). Half of Republicans were in favor of at least one action, with 39% supporting the bipartisan deal and 11% supporting both plans. Twenty-two percent of Republicans argued to pass neither.
Infrastructure negotiations are a top priority for the Senate, which has become the choke point of much of the Biden agenda. Voting rights legislation has stalled there, prompting a protest from Representative Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who was arrested on Thursday as a result. Senator Tim Scott, RS.C., one of the top three negotiators on police reform, said the bill on the issue would likely fail if a deal was not passed by the end of July . Schumer added to the pile on Wednesday when he presented a draft proposal to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, a plan at odds with Biden’s stated position.
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