House Democrats have postponed their vote on the Senate’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, as progressives continue to raise their objections until a much larger welfare bill is also completed.
The House of Representatives did not get additional votes after meetings continued late into the night. Both bills are a key part of President Joe Biden’s agenda, as moderate and left-wing Democrats fight over which parts will pass first.
How did Washington get here?
After the Trump administration talked for years about “infrastructure week,” Biden insisted that Democrats would pass a massive infrastructure bill. In contrast, his infrastructure proposal was basically split in two, with the first half featuring elements that most people associate with a term such as roads and bridges. That proposal was approved with bipartisan support in late July, with Senate Minority Mitch McConnell and 18 other Republicans voting on the bill in August.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initially said she would not pass the bipartisan bill until the Senate also passed the reconciliation bill. But the moderate Democrats objectedThey wanted an independent vote on the bipartisan bill and said they would not vote for the welfare bill unless there was a vote on the former. In turn, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, promised to moderate the vote before September 27. That date has been pushed back to Thursday.
But Progressive Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, said they would oppose the bipartisan infrastructure bill if reconciliation was not included as well. Here they are from above and who is in power and who is in power.
still city Joe Mansion
Many people in Washington joke that by electing John Osoff and Raphael Warnock in runoff races, Georgia essentially voted to make Senator Joe Manchin, a bright red conservative Democrat from West Virginia, the Senate emperor.
Manchin is the last Democrat elected statewide in West Virginia, with every county voting for Donald Trump, part of the time Democrats could turn to Appalachia. As a result, Manchin has become the backbone of whatever legislation Democrats want to promote. He similarly promoted himself as a financial conservative, even publishing an ad in 2012 promoting the fact that his wife cuts his hair.
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When progressives began to protest, Manchin issued a statement Wednesday opposing the $3.5 trillion payment on the reconciliation bill, calling it “financial insanity.” On Thursday, he suggested the bill would be $1.5 trillion. Late Thursday night, Manchin met in the Senate basement with White House officials along with fellow conservative Democrat Kirsten Senema. After the meeting, Manchin reiterated the $1.5 billion to reporters “to take care of our children, take care of our people at the end of life, and our seniors and we’re working hard on that.” Talking about…
How long can Kyrsten Sinema last?
Manchin isn’t the only moderate senator that has been shown to cause headaches. Senator Kirsten Senema of Arizona has stated explicitly that it will not support a $3.5 billion bill. In 2018, Senema was a first-term senator and became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat from Arizona since 1988. She has held multiple meetings with the White House and officials from the Biden administration.
But unlike Manchin, who ditched his $1.5 trillion figure, Sinema didn’t even foot the bill for a reconciliation that would work. This has exacerbated some House Democrats, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California told CNN, “Why should a senator have so much power? We’re in a democracy.”
After the nightly discussion in the basement, as reporters flocked to Mansion as he was leaving, Cinema didn’t say a word to the media. Cinema’s stance may infuriate progressives and the White House alike, but it has an impact by refusing to give a number. As long as that was the case, all anyone could do was wait for her to move.
Bernie Sanders, Pamela Jayapal and the AOC took the lead
Despite his defeat by Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, the fact that the Democrats won a majority in the Senate gave Senator Bernie Sanders a nice consolation prize: the president’s hammer on the Senate Budget Committee. This makes him responsible for directing the reconciliation bill, which includes many of his priorities.
But Thursday night, Sanders expressed frustration that the bill passed bipartisan without completing the reconciliation bill.
“It’s a ridiculous way of doing business to negotiate a billion dollar bill just minutes before a big vote without anyone knowing what’s going on,” Sanders told reporters. “This is unacceptable. And what I think should happen is that tonight, the bipartisan infrastructure bill should be rejected and then we can sit down and find a way to get both bills passed.”
Earlier in the week, Ocasio-Cortez said the only way to get to “yes” is also to vote for reconciliation. But in order for progressives to follow through on their threats, they had to really be prepared to allow the bill in the courtroom or without a vote. It seemed they won the match. Jayapal said Washington Post no Last week the White House told him not to change course, which basically means the Biden administration is on his side.
Progressives got what they wanted because the vote didn’t happen Thursday night, and members like Ocasio-Cortez and Jayapal are now in a position to be the president’s biggest supporters. But now comes the hard part. Sanders, who has already had to cut the reconciliation bill, will have to compete with Manchin, who will likely cut that number to at least $1.5 trillion.
Biden’s legacy on the line
Biden’s approval rating has plummeted as many Americans disapprove of the way America got out of Afghanistan. A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found Biden’s approval rating roughly equal with voters, with 50 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. The survey showed that while 57 percent approve of his handling of the coronavirus epidemic, this is down from 66 percent in July and only 47 percent approve of his handling of the economy, which is less than 60 percent.
Biden needs to instill confidence among voters that he can pass comprehensive legislation, and infrastructure and reconciliation are perhaps his single most important figures. With infrastructure, he can be seen as a bipartisan negotiator who can woo the Republicans while he can lure the left of his base with massive investments in clean energy, childcare, and health care expansion. That’s why his team put in extra time to put pressure on Mansion and Cinema. But from now on, his fate is in the hands of Congress.
Supervisors of the planted house
The moderate Democrats started the process from the strongest position. They had the ability to slow reconciliation and pass infrastructure, which could allow them to show their goodwill and not take them for granted, with members like Jayapal and Ocasio-Cortez dominating the headlines, causing headaches for some in the Democratic leadership.
One of the moderate leaders in the House of Representatives, New Jersey Representative Josh Gotheimer was confident on Tuesday that “we’ll get the votes, we’ll get the plane down.” Similarly, Ron Kind of Wisconsin, a moderate Democrat, told reporters Thursday night that he believes Democrats will be done with their work.
But history has passed, and while progressives can claim victory, moderates have to close the reconciliation bill when it is not fully formed, or put their tail between their legs. At the end of the night, Gottheimer tweeted that the negotiations were not over yet and that he was “purchasing something from Gatorade and Red Bull”.
But moderates will need more than one energy drink to fuel their plan.
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