Yahoo Movies ‘Hell No’: House Progressives Resist Push For Quick Infrastructure Vote
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a quick vote Thursday on a bipartisan infrastructure bill, but progressives said they’re still not ready to go along ― and Pelosi ultimately backed off the vote plans.
The pushback is the second time in a month that Democratic leaders have failed to convince the progressive wing of their party to move forward with passing both pieces of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
Biden on Thursday briefed House lawmakers on a broad outline of a deal the White House negotiated with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) on a $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” social spending and climate bill. The president urged members to support both pieces of legislation, saying they would determine the fate of his presidency.
But Biden left the exact timing of a vote up to congressional leadership. And many progressives noted that Pelosi said there would be an infrastructure vote this week, but Biden did not.
Progressives have said for weeks that they want to see the legislative text of the Build Back Better bill before agreeing to vote on the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. Some members also said they wanted firmer commitments from Manchin and Sinema that they will support Build Back Better.
“The Progressive Caucus still doesn’t have enough members that they can put up to support a [bipartisan infrastructure bill] vote alone,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a member of the progressive leadership team, told reporters after the group met on Thursday. “We still remain in the same position we were before.”
Later on Thursday, Democratic leaders put the text of the bill online.
“For those who said, ‘I want to see text,’ the text is there for you to review, for you to complain about, for you to add to or subtract from, whatever it is,” Pelosi said. “We’ll see what consensus emerges from that, but we’re very much on a path.”
Democrats hold a three-seat majority in the House, so the 95-member progressive caucus has significant power to block legislation. They’ve used that clout to hold up infrastructure as leverage to force moderates to support Build Back Better. Several of the progressive lawmakers told reporters they would vote against infrastructure if it came up for a vote on Thursday.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) repeatedly said she wasn’t just a no, but “hell no” on an infrastructure vote on Thursday.
Pelosi briefly attended the progressive meeting, but didn’t address the group, members said. The speaker refused to answer reporters’ questions as she left the meeting, staring straight ahead as she returned to her office in another part of the Capitol.
Thursday’s hangup seems to be entirely about procedure and personality.
Several progressives said they just don’t trust Manchin and Sinema. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said the pair hadn’t been “good faith actors” in Build Back Better negotiations.
Omar and other progressives said the broad outline of the Build Back Better bill looks great. Progressive caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called it “phenomenal.”
“We’re talking about a $400 billion investment in child care and pre-K, a $150 billion investment in housing,” Jayapal said. “These are all priorities”
House moderates, for their part, said they favored a quick infrastructure vote. New Democrat Coalition Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) said it was time to “show governance can work again.”
Meanwhile, some progressive senators like Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are urging House Democrats to stand firm and reject a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill until they see more details about the Build Back Better legislation.
“I think that the House should not be voting for the infrastructure bill unless they see very clear language and know that there are 50 senators on board,” Sanders told reporters on Thursday.
Still, Sanders referred to the framework as a “very, very good bill” and a “big deal” ― one he hoped to improve on.
If progressives were hoping for a clear sign that Sinema and Manchin support the Build Back Better framework ― something that would ameliorate their concerns and help them move forward on the broader agenda ― they didn’t get one immediately.
Sinema struck a positive note by saying that her negotiations with Biden and White House officials had yielded “significant progress.” But the Arizona Democrat declined to publicly endorse the framework outright.
“I look forward to getting this done, expanding economic opportunities and helping everyday families get ahead,” Sinema tweeted.
Manchin said the fate of the bill now was “in the hands of the House.”
“I’ve been dealing in good faith, I’ll continue to deal in good faith. It’s in the hands of the House,” Manchin reiterated.
Democrats were forced to jettison or significantly narrow many of their proposals due to opposition from the two holdout senators, including prescription drug reform, paid family leave and sick leave, and some key climate programs.
The framework does include many things Democrats are sure to love: six years of funding for universal preschool; an extension of the child tax credit for one year, an expansion of Medicare to cover the cost of hearing benefits; a strengthened Medicaid; and a program providing caregiving for older adults and disabled people.
Pelosi acknowledged in a “Dear Colleague” letter Thursday evening that she had postponed the infrastructure vote. She called it “good news” that most members who said they would vote no are still committed to supporting the infrastructure bill, and she added that a vote would likely happen soon.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
