GOP builds confidence that Biden's infrastructure, social spending packages will fail
Pelosi refuses to say when a House vote will happen; lawmakers doubt it will survive the Senate
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}House Republicans said Thursday they were feeling increasingly confident that President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and social spending packages would not gain enough support to make it to the president’s desk.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who had originally vowed to hold a House vote by Oct. 31, refused to answer questions by reporters on whether a vote would take place Thursday night.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks to reporters as House Democrats work on infrastructure and spending bills on Capitol Hill on November 4, 2021 in Washington, DC. Democratic moderates and progressives continue to negotiate on the Build Back Better social spending bill. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They keep pushing the time back on when we’re going to vote on it, which tells me — especially the series we now have — they haven’t got the votes yet," Small Business Committee ranking member Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer told Fox News.
Republicans have been playing defense all week by hosting roundtables with small businesses and contesting tax proposals from Democrats to help pay for the hefty packages.
But GOP opposition to the president’s cornerstone legislation is not its greatest threat.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It remains unclear if House Democrats support the trimmed-down social spending bill enough to push it through the lower chamber.
"We’re doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t [pass], because it’s not good for America," Rep. Fred Keller, R-Penn., told Fox News. "If it were good for America, the speaker wouldn’t have to have so much trouble twisting arms of her own party to get it done."
Reps. Fred Keller, R-Pa., left, and Greg Steube, R-Fla., listen to Kevin McAleenan, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, testify during the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the "Trump Administrations child separation policy, the treatment of immigrants detained in U.S. government facilities, and related issues," in Rayburn Building on Thursday, July 18, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lawmakers received a revised bill Wednesday night, which Pelosi signaled during a Thursday morning presser was a significant step in getting the bill through the House.
But lawmakers were frustrated by the rush to push a more than 2,000-page bill across the finish line without proper review.
"It’s astonishing that we just got 2,200 pages last night and are expected to vote on it today," Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne told Fox News. "It’s amazing that they’re trying to throw everything into it. To me, it’s a complete lack of transparency."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I guarantee, you ask the average person on the street, they couldn’t tell you ten things — they couldn’t tell you three things in the bill," she added. "These should be bipartisan bills. We need to have a discussion about them and not just fly them through under the wire in the middle of the night."
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, returns to her office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. House Democrats appear close to votes as early as today on the White House's $1.75 billion tax and spending plan and accompanying bipartisan infrastructure plan, even as negotiations continue among the caucuses in both chambers. (Craig Hudson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Van Duyne said the package was lacking majority support and expressed doubt that it could survive an upper chamber vote, even if it passes in the House.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It remains unclear what is included in the revised House bill, but lawmakers remain unconvinced it will pass muster with moderate Democrats in the Senate.
Keller said that ultimately, it will come down to whether Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Az., "hold strong to what they’ve told to the American people for the past several weeks or whether they cave to the pressure of the left side of their party."