REALLY???
Liberals on Tuesday fired a shot across the bow at Democratic leaders by warning that a bipartisan infrastructure bill cannot pass the House as long as Senate centrists remain noncommittal on the larger social benefits package at the heart of President Biden‘s agenda.
The threat is the latest challenge facing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other party leaders, who have scheduled a Thursday vote on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion public works proposal. The timeline reflects Pelosi’s promise to moderate House Democrats, who have sought to divorce the bipartisan infrastructure bill from the larger and more divisive “family” benefits package.
But in a sign that the infrastructure bill would be doomed Thursday, progressives are sticking with their long-held insistence that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) first commit to supporting the larger package before the liberals vote in favor of the more popular bipartisan measure. And they say they have the numbers to sink it…..
….
“I believe at the end of the day people will vote yes when it comes down to 2 million … jobs and these critical investments in infrastructure,” Gottheimer told reporters. “I just don’t believe people are going to hit the ‘no’ button, and I know the Speaker wouldn’t have called this and brought us all together if she couldn’t get the votes and she’s the best at it. So, she’ll get the votes.”
Yet Pelosi, a master vote counter, has built a reputation for never bringing bills to the floor without knowing for certain they will pass — a stipulation she has repeatedly said also applies to the infrastructure bill. And for that reason, “it was not entirely clear” if leaders intend to push through with their plan to bring it to the floor on Thursday, Schakowsky said.
“I’ve never seen her bring a bill to the floor that’s going to fail,” she said. “It will fail if she does.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said dozens of liberals are prepared to sink infrastructure in pursuit of the broader package.
“This agenda is not some fringe wish list: it is the President’s agenda,” she said in a statement….
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A leading progressive, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), pointed the finger directly at Sinema, saying the Arizona Democrat is holding up the entire process by refusing to disclose what dollar amount she could live with on reconciliation.
“The House is going to be unified. We need to get one number from one senator, and we need to make it very clear that’s holding everything back,” said Khanna, who was national co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign.
Sanders, for his part, also piled on, urging House Democrats to hold the line against infrastructure “until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill.”
Caught in the middle of the factional fight has been Pelosi, who has sought to appease moderates by scheduling votes on the infrastructure bill, while placating liberals by insisting both bills move in tandem.
On Tuesday, in a letter to Democrats, she leaned heavily into the second message, calling it “a dereliction of duty” to bolster the country’s infrastructure “without doing so in a manner that addresses the climate crisis significantly.”
“To do so, we must pass the Build Back Better Act,” she wrote in a letter to Democrats….
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But all sides in the debate maintain Democrats will eventually send both bills to Biden’s desk — however messy the process of getting them there.
Biden Cancels Chicago Trip
“President Biden has canceled a trip to Chicago Wednesday, and will stay in Washington to continue negotiations on key pieces of his legislative agenda,” Axios reports.
“It’s a sign of how crucial the coming days of talks will be if Biden is to advance his $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package and his flagship infrastructure bill, with a vote for the latter planned for Thursday.”
ANYBODY who thought Biden was gonna just walk this thru without losing a piece of his ass was on drugs……
This WHOLE THING is YUGE….
The politics IS Manchin AND Sinmea….
You can say WTF you want…
But?
Biden, Pelosi and Schumer have been here before….
They’ll get something thru …..
Bet on it…..
Gee I thought that the whole thing would be a cakewalk.
I mean with a two seat majority in the Senate and a five or so majority in the House?
What could go wrong?
It seems to me that Manchin and Sinema have been very unreasonable. How do you negotiate with someone who won’t even tell you what they want. The progressives have clearly been much more flexible. Hopefully Pelosi can work her magic and get something done. She is a very effective speaker.
She is……
There will be an agreement and Sinmea seems to be mote of a issue than Manchin
I like this quote…
It’s thought to pass FDR or LBJ type programs without FDR or LBJ sized majorities in Congress.
As for Manchin?
His position hasn’t surprised me.In fairness to him,he has taken the position all along that the bill was too big.Apparently the Senate leadership either wasn’t listening or thought he wasn’t serious.Either way that was a major miscalculation.
Whatever,if anything, emerges from all this?The Progressives are likely to be very disappointed.
Manchin hasn’t given any indication of what is NOT too big. He just wants the progressives to make the first counteroffer to their original offer so that he could say “not enough”, and then say “still not enough”, and then “nope, not yet.” I honestly don’t think Manchin will ever support a bill.
Biden ran for President saying he was uniquely qualified to do these deals in working with Republicans. That was naive from the start, which is one of the reasons I did not expect him to be an effective president. Hopefully he will find a way to work with Manchin and Sinema. I have my doubts.
Joe Biden spent decades in Congress….
So has Pelosi and Schumer….
They ALL KNEW this would be tough….
Manchin has in the past flexed on them, but usually comes around….
I think the wildcard IS Sinema…..
She is new to this….
As I have always pointed out here?
Progressives are actually mostly outliers even in the Democratic Party….
While they are trying to push things their way….
In the end like always ?
They WILL get somethings….
But just scraps….
Something is better than nothing….
This whole thing is a hustle before Midterm politicking and probable GOP gain’s coming that will lock out Democrats for 2 year’s….
And maybe rerun a Obama second term like for Biden….
The social spending plan advocated by Biden is extremely progressive, and it has the support of 95% of the Democratic House and Senate. You can complain, but that is the way it is.
Yes….
It won’t pass in its present form…..
I’m NOT complaining…..
I’m stating a fact…..
And the problem isn’t Republicans….
It’s TWO US SENATE Democrats…..
Everyone (including you) knows it won’t pass in its current form. I am not confident it will pass in any form.
It WILL in some form
All this bull shit is normal posturing and negotiation…..
Neither Dem Senator is gonna screw over Biden, Pelosi and Schumer and get out without a piece of their political rear end missing….
Senate votes to put off debt ceiling date
NOW: Senate voting on funding bill to avert a government shutdown
The Senate is voting now on a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown and keep the government funded through early December.
Schumer said earlier today that he’s “confident the House will approve this measure later this afternoon and send it to the President’s desk before funding runs out” at midnight tonight.
(CNN)
Burr, Blunt & Collins aye.
Rubio no.
Fischer, Thune, Portman, Wicker, Hyde-Smith no.
Grassley & Cruz, no.
Blackburn, Danes & Tuberville, no.
Reed, Manchin, Blumenthal, Van Hollen, Hassan, Feinstein, aye
Bozeman, Ernst, Shelby, no.
Scott, Barrasso, Collins (switch), No
Kelly, Gillibrand, Murray aye.
AYE: Duckworth, Feinstein, Leahy, Sanders
NO: Thune, Dane, Cruz, Rick Scott, Sullivan, Romney, Braun,
Senate motion to tie debt limit to continued funding of government FAILS (as expected) on a party-line vote.
AYE: Blumenthal, Peters, Baldwin, Bennet, Hirono, Shaheen, Schatz, Schumer, Carper, Durbin, Padilla, Tester, Kaine, Cardin, Merkley, Klobuchar, Ossoff, Whitehouse
NO: Marshall, Hoeven, Cornyn,
Correct that (?); CNN is just unclear and confusing about what passed and what didn’t.
The Senate passed a stopgap funding bill on Thursday to avert a shutdown by extending government funding through December 3. The bill next heads to the House, which is also expected to approve the measure.
Government funding will expire at midnight Thursday, but Democratic congressional leaders, who control both chambers of Congress, have projected confidence there will not be a shutdown. With the deadline rapidly approaching, lawmakers have no room for error.
LIVE UPDATES: Congress races to avert a government shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached, paving the way for a Thursday vote in the chamber on a continuing resolution, which keeps the government funded at current levels for a set time period.
“Some good news — today the Senate will pass a continuing resolution that will eliminate the possibility of a government shutdown tonight,” Schumer said in floor remarks Thursday morning.
In addition to funding the government until December 3, the stopgap bill will “provide funding to help process and resettle Afghan refugees and finally deliver on critical disaster aid for Americans battered by storms and wildfires this summer,” the majority leader said….
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-deadline-congress-votes/index.html
Update…..
NO Infrastructure House bill vote tonight….
House Democratic leaders late Thursday postponed a vote yet again on the bipartisan infrastructure bill amid threats from progressives to tank it as leverage for a separate, larger package to expand social safety net programs.
After a long day of meetings between Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the warring centrist and progressive factions of the caucus, as well as with White House staff, Democrats opted to delay a vote planned for Thursday rather than allow an embarrassing public failure on the House floor.
A notice from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office issued shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday confirmed that there would be no further votes for the night. The House is expected to reconvene Friday morning as the negotiations continue….
More…