Moderate Democrats Reiterate Call for House to Pass Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Before Dems' Reconciliation Plan

What’s the story?

• Nine moderate House Democrats sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Friday to reaffirm their call for the House to pass the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk before the chamber takes up Democrats’ budget resolution that will allow them to use reconciliation for a $3.5 trillion spending plan.
• The lawmakers include Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA), Ed Case (D-HI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), and Filemon Vela (D-TX). Case stated:

“We must pass the $1 trillion Senate physical infrastructure package immediately and send it to the President without changing it and without linking it to the $3.5 trillion social infrastructure package… In a deeply divided Congress, it is virtually impossible to pass such major initiatives, and any changes or delays will likely cause this one to fail.”

• Several of the nine moderate Democrats are expected to face highly competitive re-election races next year, and the outcomes of those races may decide control of the House given Democrats’ eight-seat majority.
• Democrats only have the ability to lose four votes from their caucus if all Republicans vote no as expected on the budget resolution, which leaves House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) facing a delicate balancing act between the moderates’ position and her stance on what should be the House’s priority. 
• Pelosi has repeatedly signaled that she will have the House delay passing the bipartisan bill until it also has the reconciliation bill in hand and said at a June press conference, “There ain’t gonna be no bipartisan bill, unless we are going to have the reconciliation bill.” When asked to clarify, Pelosi confirmed that she is referring to the reconciliation bill, not the budget resolution with reconciliation instructions. 
• The reconciliation bill itself is unlikely to be ready for consideration until mid-September, which means the bipartisan infrastructure could sit idle in the Senate for over a month after it passed the bill 69-30. 
• Pelosi and progressive Democrats in the House have insisted that the chamber wait for their reconciliation bill to be drafted and passed by the Senate before they take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill. With both wings holding the power to sink the other’s priority in favor of their own, the dispute appears likely to linger until lawmakers return to the Capitol.
• The House meets next week for what’s expected to be a brief work period starting on Monday. Votes on the budget resolution, and potentially the bipartisan infrastructure bill, could occur as early as Tuesday.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Capitol: iStock.com / Elisank79)