Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California has just a three-vote margin in the House, and a half dozen moderates are considering whether to oppose the blueprint unless they get a scheduled vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill — to claim a quick victory and a White House bill-signing ceremony.
“When you’ve got a bill that will create two million jobs a year, with the support of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Chamber of Commerce, all coming together with Democrats and Republicans and, by the way, the president, why would we not bring this to a vote and get it done immediately?” asked Representative Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey. “Of course we will be pushing hard.”
Ms. Pelosi told House Democrats on Wednesday in a private call that she would not take up the bill before the Senate passed the second, larger package.
“I am not freelancing — this is the consensus,” Ms. Pelosi told Democrats, according to two people familiar with the discussion, who disclosed the comments on the condition of anonymity. “The votes in the House and Senate depend on us having both bills.”
That stance reflects the views of House liberals, who fear that if the infrastructure bill is signed into law, moderate Democrats will declare victory and withdraw support for the liberals’ priority bill.
With two significant bills in play, the fight over timing is growing fierce — and public.
“Now that the Senate approved the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the House must pass it ASAP,” Representative Stephanie Murphy, Democrat of Florida and a leader of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, wrote on Twitter. “While I support passing a targeted reconciliation bill to help FL families, we shouldn’t hold infrastructure hostage to it.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/us/politics/senate-budget-plan.html
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