Two whopping budget bills, both sprung from the Senate, are back into the House this week for their last beautification before approval. Or so Nancy Pelosi hopes.
The Senate approved the stripped-down version of Biden's infrastructure bill, authorizing $1 trillion for projects in transportation, water, broadband and other infrastructure. That measure passed in the Senate by 69-30, with even the ol' tap-dancing Kentucky mud turtle voting in favor. Yes, Mitch McConnell, after much drama, came down on the side of Yes. What hath God wrought?
The Senate also approved the grand outlines of Biden's $3.5 trillion budget bill, including the "soft" measures that were originally in the infrastructure plan. It tackles climate change and rolls out an agenda of hope for those of modest means -- child care programs, an expansion of Medicare, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, among others. The vote was 50-49 along party lines. We're not sure who stepped out when the vote was counted, but we think it was Lindsay Graham, who is in quarantine with Covid19 (he was vaccinated, so the symptoms aren't too bad).
Now both bills are back in the House, where they originated -- but Nancy Pelosi has refused to allow a vote on the Infrastructure bill until the Senate agrees on a more specific version of the Budget bill. (The Infrastructure bill only needs House approval, but the Budget bill has to have a lot of blanks filled in and then go back to the Senate.) That is, the Speaker wants to leverage the bill most everybody wants (Infrastructure) to pass the bill that only the Democrats want (Budget).
Leverage a $1 trillion bill to pass a $3.5 trillion bill whose specifics are yet to be written? What could possibly go wrong?
Bear in mind that the Senate's approvals was a 14-hour ordeal, with senators agreeing to one section after another, including the legislative raisins and chocolate chips that Dems agreed to for Republicans' votes. That lasted till 4 a.m.
"The goal of most amendments," the Huffpo tells us of the aforementioned raisins and chips, "was not to win but to force the other party’s vulnerable senators to cast troublesome votes that can be used against them in next year’s elections for congressional control."
For example, late in the process, one Republican senator got up on his hind legs to propose an amendment that would strip federal monies from municipalities that wanted to "defund the police." Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) knocked that curve ball out of the park by agreeing with it so enthusiastically that he proposed adding endorsements for God, country, and apple pie. (The amendment failed 99-0, suggesting that even the man who proposed it, Tommy Tuberville, voted against it.)
With the bill back in the House, some 30 or so Democrats want the budget bill to pick up the funding for electric vehicles that got stripped from the infrastructure bill in what appears to be yet another ploy to make points with the folks back home. Okay, maybe some of them feel it from the heart.
The upshot is that after the August recess, Nancy Pelosi will have a pride of 434 lions chasing her while she runs a packet of steaks through the goalposts.
This could be interesting.
Photo: "US Dollar Bill" by SqueakyMarmot is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/567404-pelosi-breaks-bad-news-to-moderates-no-infrastructure-vote-this-month?rl=1
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/automobiles/567474-house-democrats-press-leaders-to-include-more-funding-for?rl=1
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/budget-resolution-3-5-trillion-senate-passes-infrastructure-spending/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-us-congress-budget_n_61138591e4b0b99ac60a29e3
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