House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is a boss. Never doubt her.
The House voted 220-212 on a rule that approves the $3.5 trillion budget resolution, sets a vote on infrastructure legislation for September 27, and a vote later today on voting rights legislation.
CNBC reports, House Democrats clear path toward passing $3.5 trillion budget bill and infrastructure plan after breaking stalemate:
House Democrats forged ahead with President Joe Biden’s economic plans Tuesday after they broke a stalemate that threatened to unravel the party’s sprawling agenda.
The chamber approved a measure that passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution and advanced a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The vote allows Democrats to write and approve a massive spending package without Republicans and puts the Senate-passed infrastructure plan on a path to a final House vote.
The measure includes a nonbinding commitment to vote on the infrastructure bill by Sept. 27, which aims to appease nine centrist Democrats who pushed the House to consider the bipartisan plan before it took up the Democratic budget resolution. The vote also advances a sweeping voting rights bill, which Democrats aim to pass as soon as Tuesday. [HR 4 is being debated on the floor right now.]
[T]he vote to advance the measures preserves the party’s hopes to push through massive economic proposals this year. Democrats still need to overcome several hurdles — and write a budget bill that can win support from spending-wary centrists and progressives alike — to get the proposals through a narrowly divided Congress.
Democrats in the Senate and House hope to write their bill to strengthen the social safety net and invest in climate policy in the coming weeks. The budget measure calls to expand Medicare, child care and paid leave, extend strengthened household tax credits passed last year, create universal pre-K and make incentives for green energy adoption.
While the resolution allows for up to $3.5 trillion in spending, centrists corporate Democrats will likely try to trim the price tag.
We are now down to brass tacks from the appropriations committees advancing the legislation to fill in the $3.5 billion budget resolution by the budget reconciliation process for the American Families Plan.
I will follow up on the vote on HR 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
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Per Liza…
“And this: “Sinema made clear that she will not back a $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan and isn’t willing to negotiate about it…””
Someone needs to explain to the Senator that negotiating is her actual job.
Maybe it would cut into her vacation time.
Regarding Sinema, the best that can be done at this point is to elect Katie Hobbs to the Governor’s office. Then have a “Recall Sinema” election, which if successful, would allow Governor Hobbs to appoint a far better Democrat in her place. Past time to get this “insane degenerate piece of filth” (h/t Walter White) out of office.
Manchin: “It would send a terrible message to the American people if this bipartisan [infrastructure] bill is held hostage…”
No, actually it wouldn’t. The terrible message being sent to the American people is that there are Democrats in Congress willing to sabotage the Biden agenda for their own self-aggrandizing reasons which makes it NECESSARY for Pelosi to take them on.
And this: “Sinema made clear that she will not back a $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan and isn’t willing to negotiate about it…”
What exactly does she want? Is there some number less than 3.5 trillion that would be acceptable to her or is this just more of her power grabbing, attention seeking, Look-at-me-I’m-a-BOSS bullsh!t? Is this how she thinks she gets re-elected?
Nancy Pelosi conceded nothing to the Democratic “suicide squad.” She is saying, no, we just clarified when the vote would be in September.
Nancy Pelosi only made a nonbinding commitment to vote on the infrastructure bill by Sept. 27.
As soon as the budget reconciliation resolution passed the House of Representatives, the Congressional Progressive Caucus issued a statement: “We will only vote for the infrastructure bill after passing the reconciliation bill.”https://twitter.com/elwasson/status/1430263280812036105
The Democratic “suicide squad” caved in the end, proving that the real saboteurs in the Democratic Party, Sens. Manchin and Sinema, are ineffectual. Politico reported “A Mod Squad assist from Manchin and Sinema”, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2021/08/23/a-mod-squad-assist-from-manchin-and-sinema-494089
MANCHIN, SINEMA GIVE AIR COVER TO THE MOD SQUAD — As the nine House Democratic centrists threatening to derail Tuesday’s budget vote come under heavy fire from the entire party, Senate heavyweights [???] JOE MANCHIN (D-W.Va.) and KYRSTEN SINEMA (D-Ariz.) are providing them with some cover.
1) Sinema made clear that she will not back a $3.5 trillion reconciliation plan and isn’t willing to negotiate about it — even as progressives and leaders try to use her hard-fought bipartisan infrastructure deal as a bargaining chip to get both passed.
2) Manchin blasted out a statement cheering the House moderates for their demands. “It would send a terrible message to the American people if this bipartisan [infrastructure] bill is held hostage,” Manchin said. “I urge my colleagues in the House to move swiftly to get this once in a generation legislation to the President’s desk for his signature.”
The pair of statements serve two purposes:
1) To try to pressure party leaders like House Speaker NANCY PELOSI into decoupling the reconciliation bill and the infrastructure deal. (Good luck with that.)
2) To clarify that they aren’t going to back a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill — never, never, never.
As we reported this morning in Playbook, even beyond the budget vote drama of the next 48 hours, there’s a storm brewing in the House over the size of the reconciliation package. Progressives and Democratic leaders seem to think that $3.5 trillion is the number, as Pelosi made clear in a “Dear Colleague” letter over the weekend. But House moderates are loath to swallow such a price tag if their centrist brethren in the Senate are simply going to turn around and cut it down significantly.
Party discipline requires that these two saboteurs must pay a price for their actions.
I’m so glad they are calling it the John R Lewis Voting Rights Bill/ Advancement. That carries so much more weight than the previous name—that I don’t remember.