Moderate & Progressive Democrats Feud After Infrastructure Vote Postponed Amid Reconciliation Negotiations

What’s the story?

• The infighting between moderate and progressive House Democrats has continued in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) canceling a vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill because the disparate wings of her party haven’t reached a deal on the scope of their “social infrastructure” spending plan. 
• Pelosi had pledged to moderates that she would bring the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed the Senate 69-30 and extended a number of expiring surface transportation programs. The speaker backtracked and canceled the vote after a progressive revolt over unresolved reconciliation talks threatened to leave her without the votes needed to pass the infrastructure bill. The cancellation led to an authorization lapse for several programs and about 3,700 Dept. of Transportation workers being temporarily furloughed.
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition and Problem Solvers Caucus who has been a leading moderate in the House’s negotiations, released a statement which said it’s “deeply regrettable that Speaker Pelosi breached her firm, public commitment” to hold the vote. He also took issue with progressives’ power play, saying “a small far left faction of the House of Representatives undermined that agreement and blocked a critical vote on the President’s historic bipartisan infrastructure bill.”
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) countered Gottheimer’s statement on Twitter where she defended Pelosi’s decision to side with progressives:

“The Speaker didn’t break any promises. The arbitrary date 9 people insisted on was in the [August] rule vote to proceed on a $3.5T bill. That bound $3.5T [with] Sept. date. Challenging $3.5 also challenged their date. That’s ok! Right > rushed. We can still Build Back Better… together!”

• Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), a co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, said in a statement that she is “profoundly disappointed and disillusioned by this process” and added:

“The Speaker delayed the vote because some of my Democratic colleagues, in a misguided effort to gain ‘leverage’ over their fellow Democrats in the negotiations on the separate Build Back Better Act, have threatened to vote against a very good infrastructure bill. I hope my colleagues will reconsider their approach. Whether they do or not, all members of the House should be required to cast a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and to accept the consequences of that vote.”

• Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) insisted that progressives likely “need a vote” on a reconciliation bill before voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill but also left the door open to being persuaded if centrist Democrats can provide assurances about reconciliation in some other way:

“We would like to have a vote in the Senate. Now, I will just say that if there’s some other assurance that is really… ironclad … I’m open to listening. There’s going to have to be something pretty strong, and we’re still saying it’s a vote.”

• Whenever leadership brings the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill to the floor, they will need near-unanimous support from Democratic lawmakers for passage given that they can only afford three “nay” votes from their caucus.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Gottheimer: New Jersey National Guard photo by Mark Olsen via Flickr / Creative Commons | Ocasio-Cortez: NRKbeta via Flickr / Creative Commons)