House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will hold a press conference at the US Capitol Visitor Center on March 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
The House of Representatives will return to Washington next week preparing the latest test of President Joe Biden’s sprawling economic agenda.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California, plans to hold a procedural vote as early as Monday to move forward with a handful of Democratic priorities: the $ 1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, the $ 1 trillion Democratic Plan $ 3.5 trillion to expand the social safety net and a voting law.
She will then work with the Senate to pass a budget resolution, which is the first step in getting the Democrats to approve their massive spending plan without a Republican vote.
The spending plan is not expected to get through the Senate for weeks or even months, which would delay the final passage of the infrastructure bill if everything goes according to plan.
In an effort to keep the progressives on board with the smaller infrastructure plan and keep the centrists in tune with trillions more new spending, Pelosi has announced not to adopt either of the economic plans until the Senate passes both of them. Opposition from their faction has threatened to derail the speaker’s plans so that the Democrats will look for a way forward if they return to the Capitol.
A group of nine centrist Democrats in the House of Representatives on Monday reiterated their call for the chamber to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill before considering spending on social programs and climate policy. With Democrats holding a slim majority in the House of Representatives, the nine lawmakers could sink the budget decision themselves – which would delay progress on an economic agenda that Democrats hope will boost budgets and improve their fortunes in next year’s midterm elections .
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It’s unclear whether Pelosi will change their plans before next week. The White House this week approved their strategy of holding the procedural vote to move forward with plans for infrastructure, welfare spending and voting rights and then passing the budgetary decision.
In a letter to her group this week, she said delays in passing the measure would jeopardize the party’s political goals.
“When the House of Representatives returns on August 23, it is important that we pass the budgetary decision so that we can move forward united and determined to realize President Biden’s transformative vision and make historic strides,” she wrote.
If Pelosi pulls off their plan, the infrastructure bill would wait for a final House vote – and then Biden’s signature – while both houses of Congress write the $ 3.5 trillion spending plan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., gave committees a goal on September 15 to complete their pieces of legislation.
The bill is expected to include a Medicare expansion, a universal Pre-K, wider access to paid vacation and childcare, an expansion of strengthened household tax credits, and measures to encourage clean energy adoption. The proposal could be scaled back as Senate Democratic centrists including Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona criticize the $ 3.5 trillion price tag.
A Democratic vote against the proposal would sink him in the Senate, which is split 50:50 by party.
The nine Democrats in the House of Representatives have pushed for the final passage of the Infrastructure Bill, arguing that a later vote would delay projects to renew American traffic, broadband and infrastructure.
“We now have the votes to pass this bill, so I think we should first vote immediately on the bipartisan infrastructure package, send it to the president’s desk, and then quickly think about the budget resolution that I want to support.” New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of the nine Democrats, said in a statement Friday.
“We have to get people to work and shovel in the ground,” he said.
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