Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi faces civil war in her chamber between the far-left progressives and moderates in her party.
The progressives, who have the loudest mouths in Congress, will not vote for the Senate-passed infrastructure bill without the $3.5 trillion “human” infrastructure bill.
Pelosi wanted to go along with them. The White House wants that human infrastructure bill, too.
However, Pelosi knew the moderate Democrats would not agree and attempted to draw them in. They did not agree:
On Sunday, Pelosi suggested a way out in a letter to colleagues: The Rules Committee could set up a process to “advance” both measures at the same time. Her deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said her position has not changed: The House won’t vote on final passage of the infrastructure bill until the Senate passes the other spending bill, a process that could still take weeks.But the nine moderates appeared to reject that approach, saying in a joint statement Sunday evening that they appreciated her offer but their “view remains consistent” on passing infrastructure first.The group of Democrats is led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and includes politically vulnerable lawmakers like Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Ga., and Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine.
The group said on Sunday:
“While we appreciate the forward procedural movement on the bipartisan infrastructure agreement, our view remains consistent: We should vote first on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework without delay and then move to immediate consideration of the budget resolution,” the nine representatives said in a statement Sunday night. “We simply cannot afford any delays.”
The Democrats have a caucus on Tuesday at noon.
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