Monday is what Congressional reporters might call a “day of decision,” even though no decisions will actually be made.
In the House, Monday is the prescribed deadline for a vote on a Senate-passed infrastructure bill, with $550 billion in new spending over ten years. Twenty-one progressives have vowed to vote down that bill, because it would break the deal of enacting together both the infrastructure package and the Build Back Better Act, a public investment bill that represents nearly the entirety of the Democratic platform Biden ran and won on. A handful of Democrats who negotiated the infrastructure bill have stated vague objections to the Democratic platform, which has made it impossible to reach agreement.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a bout of optimism, has vowed to pass both the infrastructure and the Build Back Better Act this week. She instructed the Budget Committee to put together all of the elements of the bill that passed various committees in a markup on Saturday (here is that legislation). It could go to the Rules Committee as soon as today.
Read Full Article »