Infrastructure bill: Progressives rebel, say they'll tank infrastructure legislation: LIVE UPDATES
Congressional Democrats are scrambling to pass the infrastructure bill by Thursday despite threats from progressives to tank it over a lack of progress on the reconciliation bill. House Democrats blamed moderate Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for gumming up reconciliation talks.
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Democratic leaders are seeking other means to raise the debt ceiling after Republicans blocked a pair of efforts this week. GOP lawmakers said they won't participate in a debt ceiling hike because it will facilitate spending on Democrat-backed legislation, such as Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill.
Biden faced criticism from analysts and lawmakers over the weekend after he shared a tweet claiming that his Build Back Better plan "costs zero dollars."
Fox News' Peter Doocy has confirmed President Biden will postpone the Wednesday trip as he seeks an agreement with moderate Democrats on his $3.5 trillion spending bill.
"In meetings and calls over the weekend and through today, President Biden has been engaging with members of Congress on the path forward for the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal," a White House official said. "He will now remain at the White House tomorrow to continue working on advancing these two pieces of legislation to create jobs, grow the economy, and make investments in families, rather than failed giveaways to the rich and big corporations."
"There will be more to come on his engagement over the next couple of days, and the trip to Chicago to discuss the ongoing importance of getting people vaccinated will be rescheduled," the official added.
Schumer asked the Senate for unanimous consent to lower the voting threshold to 50 votes for a standalone debt ceiling bill. McConnell objected to Schumer's request, scuttling the effort and forcing Democratic leaders to seek another path to raise the limit without Republican support.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Tuesday that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., pushes through the infrastructure bill this week it would amount to her going back on her word.
“When we voted in the Senate on the bipartisan deal, it was with the understanding that all pieces of the package would be moving together,” Warren said. “That was the representation from our leader in the Senate and from the speaker… As far as I’m concerned that’s still the deal.”
Warren dismissed one of Pelosi’s main talking points for why the vote should happen this week: that highway funding runs out at the end of the month. Warren said Democrats can instead put the funding for ongoing projects in the continuing resolution they plan to pass this week.
“It is important that we keep transit funding going and we can certainly do that with the continuing resolution,” Warren told Fox News.
Warren also said she is concerned that her climate-related proposals might be removed from the reconciliation deal. And she said that she still believes the price tag of the bill should still be $3.5 trillion. Pelosi said this week it will have to go down to placate moderates.
Sen. Bernie Sanders urged House Democrats to reject the bipartisan bill if it is introduced for a vote before the $3.5 trillion package favored by progressives is passed.
“Let’s be crystal clear. If the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed on its own on Thursday, this will be in violation of an agreement that was reached within the Democratic Caucus in Congress,” Sanders said. “More importantly, it will end all leverage that we have to pass a major reconciliation bill. That means there will be no serious effort to address the long-neglected crises facing the working families of our country, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor.”
“It also means that Congress will continue to ignore the existential threat to our country and planet with regard to climate change,” Sanders added. “I strongly urge my House colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill.”
The West Virginia senator said his meeting with President Biden lasted for "a good hour, hour and a half." Manchin added that he and Biden "haven't talked about" a topline number for a spending bill that he would find acceptable.
Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said his meeting with President Biden did not result in a deal on a pared-back spending bill. Manchin has indicated he will not vote for the $3.5 trillion bill as presently constructed, arguing it is too costly during a shaky U.S. economic recovery.
"There was no commitments made at all, no commitments, just good negotiations," Manchin said. He added that he and Biden were "talking about the needs of our country."
Manchin would not say whether he plans to return to the White House today to continue discussions.
"No infrastructure bill should pass without a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a tweet. "That is the agreement that was made & that is the agreement that must be kept. Physical infrastructure is important, but the needs of working families & combatting climate change is more important."
Sanders price point could be worth watching as negotiations continue. He and other progressives could continue to opposed infrastructure -- and reconciliation -- if Democratic leaders bring down the total cost of that bill too much to placate moderates.
Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich reports that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is returning to the White House Tuesday after a separate meeting there earlier today.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. -- the other moderate senator who House Democrats say is stopping progress on reconciliation -- is headed there this afternoon as well.
If the White House can get specifics on reconciliation out of the two senators, that could go a long way toward helping infrastructure pass this week, per comments from House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., earlier today.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday is seeking to reassure rebelling progressives that Democrats will indeed pass a reconciliation bill -- even as she says the House must move ahead with the infrastructure bill this week independent of a reconciliation agreement.
"We remain fully committed to passing President Biden's entire Build Back Better agenda," the Progressive Caucus said in a statement after a Tuesday meeting. "Our Progressive Caucus members remain clear: we will not allow this process to be dictated by special interests and corporations at the expense of women, working families, and our communities. We will not leave anyone behind."
"We articulated this position more than three months ago, and today it is still unchanged," the caucus added. "[P]rogressives will vote for both bills, but a majority of our members will only vote for the infrastructure bill after the President's Build Back Better Act passes."
Some of the top progressives in the House are also saying independently that they won't vote for the infrastructure bill, which is expected to receive a vote Thursday, without assurances moderates won't scuttle the reconciliation bill.
"A few conservative Democrats have suggested we should 'pause' this urgently needed legislation by moving forward without the Build Back Better Act and providing less help to families," Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Katie Porter, D-Calif., said in a CNN op-ed.
"But we will not leave behind child care, paid leave, health care, housing, education, climate action, and a long-overdue road map to citizenship," they added.
Several other progressives chimed in on Twitter.
"I’ve been clear from the start, these bills move together or they don’t move at all," Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., said.
"Same here," Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., replied.
But Tuesday afternoon, Pelosi sent a letter to her Democratic caucus emphasizing that she is very committed to reconciliation as well despite the move to pass infrastructure this week, before federal highway funding runs out.
"I appreciate the unity that has been expressed and the respect for diversity in our Caucus," Pelosi said. "The change in circumstance regarding the reconciliation bill has necessitated a change in our Build Back Better legislation but not in our values."
"It would be a dereliction of duty for us to build the infrastructure of America without doing so in a manner that addresses the climate crisis significantly, which enables the U.S. to meet its emission goals by 2030 and do so in a timely fashion. To do so, we must pass the Build Back Better Act," Pelosi added. "As I write this to you, negotiations are being led by President Biden to advance his vision."
The letter echoed comments Pelosi made earlier in the day that Democrats are working to find an agreement on reconciliation as soon as possible. But she nevertheless is sticking to her guns that infrastructure must be passed before the end of the month, citing expiring highway funding and stubborn Senate Democrats.
And it's not clear that the speaker, known for her prowess at wrangling votes, will be able to convince enough progressives to vote for the infrastructure bill for it to pass this week.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that House Democrats are waiting on moderate senators to put forward what they'd accept in a reconciliation bill before they can pass the infrastructure bill.
"The Senate has its own dynamics... the challenge that we're confronting is that a handful of senators -- we are still waiting to get an understanding of what is the number that they are comfortable with in terms of advancing the priorities of President Biden and congressional Democrats," Jeffries said.
"The hope is that we'll receive a number from them sooner rather than later so we can figure out how to execute on the many priorities that are in the 'Build Back Better," Jeffries said.
Despite a wide gulf between House progressives and moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., Jeffries nevertheless expressed cautious optimism the House can pass the infrastructure bill by Thursday. Democrats in the House imposed that deadline for the bill because highway funding expires at the end of this month.
"We're on track to move the bipartisan infrastructure agreement and it's a very important point that we have an expiration date that is in front of us in terms of the necessary investments that need to be made," Jeffries said.
But, he added, "we're figuring out the pathway to get both of these very important bills over the finish line." The key to doing that, Jeffries said, is Manchin and Sinema giving the House a number to work with on reconciliation.
Jeffries dodged a question about whether the House can pass the infrastructure bill Thursday without an agreement on reconciliation.
"Let's just take it day by day. We've got a few days between now and then," he said. "We remain hopeful that the many different conversations that have been taking place, particularly with the senator from West Virginia and the senator from Arizona will yeild some greater clarity... into what is possible in the Senate, so we'll know what's possible in the House."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who House Democrats blamed Tuesday for gumming up negotiations on the reconciliation bill, said that it may be a "while" until there's an agreement on it.
Asked whether he is prepared to give President Biden a topline number on how much money he can vote for in the bill, Manchin demurred. He said instead that he believes his meeting with Biden is just about the bill overall.
Manchin added that he is working in good faith on the bill, but emphasized to reporters that, "we need to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill."
A nonpartisan budget watchdog says Democrats' massive budget reconciliation bill could cost much more than the $3.5 trillion price they give it and casts doubt on whether it will actually be paid for as they claim.
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) Senior Vice President Marc Goldwein told FOX Business Monday that because the bill came out just days ago it's impossible to give it a precise total.
But Goldwein said based on what Democrats have said will be in the bill for months and factoring in a funding trick they are using to keep the price of the bill down, it could reach a grand total of upward of $5 trillion.
"To fit $5 and a half trillion into a $3 and a half trillion box, they were going to have a bunch of stuff expire early and do some things like have some things start late," Goldwein said. He explained that the CRFB's estimations assume many temporary programs will be renewed or made permanent by future Congresses, which CRFB describes as a common "budget gimmick" to hide the true cost of a bill.
The bill is notably subject to change and likely will decrease in price as Democrats negotiate amongst themselves in the coming days and weeks.
"We went from a short list of bullets to a long list of bullets to actually legislation in the House. But we don't have a score on the legislation yet except for very little pieces of it, so it's too soon to tell," Goldwein added. "What I would say is based on what we do know from the House legislation, it looks like its … cost is probably on the higher end of that [up to $5.5 trillion range] or maybe above it."
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday morning that the House wants to get moderate senators to agree to a topline number for the reconciliation bill and a framework for it this week.
Hoyer mentioned Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., by name during a conversation with reporters, calling both critical to Democrats' agenda.
"They're both very important because we need every single senator," Hoyer said. "We don't want to pass a bill that can't pass the Senate."
"It will take some time," Hoyer added regarding working out the final reconciliation bill. "What we're hoping to get this week is a framework -- a number and a framework."
Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., face a difficult balancing act this week as they try to push through the infrastructure bill by Thursday while progressives threaten to tank it because reconciliation is not complete.
Hoyer emphasized that he sees both reconciliation and the infrastructure bill as part of President Biden's broader agenda.
But he added that he hopes the House will pass "a portion of that this Thursday."
That will likely require at least an agreement on a reconciliation framework, likely a tall task given the compressed timeline and how far apart moderates and progressives are on the bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that Democrats "will pass" both their reconciliation bill and the bipartisan infrastructure bill after a caucus meeting Tuesday, despite the unclear path forward on both.
The speaker acknowledged that progressives are unlikely to let the infrastructure bill pass without an agreement on infrastructure. And she set an optimistic timeline for an agreement on the reconciliation bill.
"We have to see what comes of the negotiations that are going on if they are worthy of the commitments that we have made in 'Build Back Better,'" Pelosi said. "We'll see what we need to have and that is the essence of the 'Build Back Better'"
"In the next day or so we hope to come to a place where we can move forward on that," she said.
It's unclear how congressional Democrats could do that given the canyon between progressives' negotiating position and that of moderate Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.
But Pelosi did allege that the House passage of the infrastructure bill is being held up by some senators' reluctance on reconciliation. She was careful not to criticize the progressive members of her caucus who are threatening to vote against infrastructure.
"We were on a path of a number $3:5 trillion," Pelosi said. "There was an intervention as you know in the past week or 10 days saying we can't go there... So we'll see what is and hopefully it will measure -- it will reach the level that we need in order to pass both bills."
"Hopefully it will reach the level that we need in order to pass both bills," she added.
Per Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich, President Biden will meet with Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on Tuesday amid intense negotiations over the president's economic agenda.
Manchin and Sinema were the driving force behind the infrastructure bill that Democrats are bringing for a vote this week. But progressives are threatening to scuttle it because there's no agreement on Democrats' massive reconciliation bill yet.
Progressives want that bill to cost $3.5 trillion or more while Manchin and Sinema have been clear they want a smaller bill, potentially around $1.5 trillion.
Biden has been meeting with members of Congress on both sides of this Democratic divide in recent days but has been reluctant to pick a side.
House Democrats are set to meet again Tuesday morning after Speaker Nancy Pelosi dropped a bomb in their Monday evening caucus meeting that she will no longer push for the reconciliation bill and infrastructure bill to pass together.
The shock move Monday came as moderates and progressives had started to soften their stances on how to handle the two major bills, but also as an end of month expiration on highway funding loomed. Pelosi said that and stubborn Senate Democrats demanding a lower price tag on reconciliation forced her hand.
It's likely that House progressives will be upset with the move after they and Pelosi said for months that either the reconciliation bill should pass first, or they should both pass at the same time.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., will speak to the media at 10:15 a.m. after the meeting. Follow this live blog for coverage of his comments.
Democrats' reconciliation bill includes more than double the money President Biden requested for public housing — a significant chunk of which could go to New York City's "scandal-plagued" housing authority after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s involvement.
Schumer, D-N.Y., has been pushing for a major increase in federal funding to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for the better part of a year. And Biden proposed $40 billion in funding for public housing in his "American Jobs Plan," which is now the Democrats' fledgling reconciliation bill.
But Schumer demanded that number be doubled to $80 billion, while saying the NYCHA – which has a long history of misconduct, bribery and failing its residents – should be one of the top recipients of the funding.
"I am announcing today that one of my number one priorities in any infrastructure package is to double down on the President’s original proposal and fight for at least $80 billion in new funds to meet the capital repairs needs of Public Housing Agencies across the country, especially those of NYCHA," Schumer said in April, shortly after Biden announced his jobs plan.
The content of it is subject to change as Democrats continue their negotiations this week, but the initial draft of Democrats' full reconciliation bill does indeed include $80 billion total for public housing.
Of that, $66.5 billion is given to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge to spent as she sees fit on "priority investments as determined by the secretary to repair, replace or construct properties."
Given Schumer's push to rake in money for the NYCHA, much of that could potentially be allocated to the housing authority known for waste, scandal and even fraud.
A Senate GOP aide argued this strategy is tantamount to rewarding failure and said the money could be wasted given the NYCHA's history.
"The American people should take Senator Schumer at his word when he says he will ‘use all of [his] power as majority leader’ to funnel tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to New York City’s scandal-plagued public housing system," a Senate GOP aide told FOX Business. "Don’t be fooled: this will be a $40 billion earmark to bail out a failed government agency infamous for taking bribes from contractors, employing people who drink on the job, and poisoning children by exposing them to lead paint."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Democrats in a caucus meeting late Monday that they must pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill this week before their massive reconciliation bill, a reversal of her past stance that could throw the passage of both into doubt.
Pelosi, D-Calif., was allied with progressive members of her party who for months were demanding that the reconciliation bill pass before infrastructure. She shifted that stance recently with the aim of uniting Democrats around a framework of a reconciliation bill – not fully passing it – before moving ahead with infrastructure.
But Monday night marked a full reversal for Pelosi, who said stubborn Senate moderates and the looming expiration of highway funds is forcing her hand.
"There are many things on the table, the Continuing Resolution, which expires September 30th, the highway reauthorization – authorization expires September 30th," Pelosi said at the meeting, according to a source familiar with her comments.
"But here’s the thing: I told all of you that we wouldn’t go on to the BIF [until] we had the reconciliation bill passed by the Senate. We were right on schedule to do all of that, until 10 days ago, a week ago, when I heard the news that this number had to come down," Pelosi added, according to the person familiar. "It all changed, so our approach had to change… We had to accommodate the changes that were being necessitated. And we cannot be ready to say until the Senate passed the bill, we can’t do BIF."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The House is moving towards a showdown on President Biden's signature infrastructure legislation. (Getty)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview Sunday that the House will pass the $1 trillion infrastructure bill this week and that she never brings a bill to the floor “that doesn’t have the votes.”
But she does not have many votes to spare in the House, and progressives took to social media on Monday to demand that President Biden’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation package is passed along with infrastructure.
“We have the House, the Senate, and the White House, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Let’s finally deliver on health care, child care, paid leave, climate action, pre-k, community college, housing, a roadmap to citizenship, and infrastructure. We can do it all—and we must while we have the chance.”
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., also posted that “we made a deal.” “Now that it’s been announced that the infrastructure bill will come to a vote on Thursday, let me be absolutely clear. I will not support it without first passing the Build Back Better Act,” she posted.
Pelosi once held the position that the House would only pass the infrastructure bill if they also passed the reconciliation package.
But Politico reported Monday that Pelosi changed her opinion after she found out that Democrats could reduce the $3.5 trillion pricetag. “It all changed, so our approach had to change," Pelosi told her caucus Monday, Politico reported.
Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-backed bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling on Monday in a move that will leave Democratic leaders with just a few days to avert a government shutdown and potential default on U.S. debt obligations.
The stopgap bill, which would have funded the government through Dec. 3, suspended the debt limit and directed funds for hurricane relief, fell short of the 60-vote threshold required to overcome the Republican filibuster. Government funding expires at midnight on Thursday.
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