Nine moderate House Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes on bills up for passage in the House. Why? They want the infrastructure budget bill to be passed right away, whereas Nancy Pelosi wants to hold it aside until the bigger, reconciliation bill passes both houses.
The bills were both approved, at least in principle, by the Senate just days ago and now must be passed by the House. One, the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, took weeks of intense negotiation to get through the Senate, but was passed days ago by a coalition of Democrats and 17 Republicans. That bill doesn't have to go back to the Senate.
The reconciliation bill does. The Senate okayed the broad outlines of the bill, but once the House writes up the details, the bill will have to pass a Senate vote again.
The reconciliation bill is a $3.5 trillion budget bill that includes several types of relief for the working poor. Its only real hope of getting through the Senate is via a party-line vote that includes all 50 of the Democrats, plus VP Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. It will take months to finish the reconciliation bill and get it through both houses of Congress.
If 9 House Democrats vote Nay on the reconciliation bill, it might not even pass the House.
Pelosi, though, is adamant about making the reconciliation bill pass first. Pelosi is a legislative warrior with close to 75 years of hands-on experience in politics, starting when her father was mayor of Baltimore. She's said to have a laser-like intuition for political possibilities.
It's going to be interesting.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-moderates-threaten-pelosi-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill_n_61167040e4b07c14031429f0
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