The U.S. House of Representatives is slated to return to session today. Nine House Democrats remain committed to opposing a vote on the budget until the infrastructure bill is first brought up for a vote. The nine told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) their position last week, Inside Towers reported.
Roll Call notes Pelosi remains steadfast that the House needs to hold the infrastructure package until the Senate passes a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package implementing instructions laid out in the budget resolution.
The nine moderate Democrats are: Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Jared Golden of Maine, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Kurt Schrader of Oregon and Texans Filemon Vela, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez. On Friday, they stressed the importance of immediately passing the infrastructure bill, citing the measure’s ability to create jobs with $550 billion in new spending and concern that delaying final passage could ultimately doom the legislation. “We cannot wait. Everyone knows time kills deals,” Bourdeaux stated.
Three of the Democrats — Gottheimer, Vela and Costa — said they planned to support the budget resolution if it follows passage of the infrastructure bill. “We have the votes to pass this legislation right now, which is why I believe we should first vote immediately on the bipartisan infrastructure package, send it to the President’s desk, and then quickly consider the budget resolution, which I plan to support,” Gottheimer said.
Schrader stated Friday: “The ambiguity of the reconciliation process would leave the bipartisan infrastructure package in limbo and lead to possible failure.”
Failure to reach a compromise with some or all of the moderate Democrats on the budget would, at a minimum, delay plans to assemble a reconciliation package containing several party priorities, according to Roll Call. A source familiar with moderates’ views said as many as 15 others have made similar demands privately.
“The House must pass the budget resolution immediately,” Pelosi told colleagues on Tuesday, noting that doing so will maximize House Democrats’ leverage in the process and allow them to “proceed first in crafting the reconciliation bill.” In a statement Thursday, Pelosi reiterated plans to proceed with a vote on the combined rule. She said discussions Thursday between President Joe Biden, House Democratic leaders and committee chairs who will write the implementing reconciliation bill were “marked by a determination to produce results — and soon.”
The timeline is tight. Once it recesses again, the House is not scheduled to return to legislative session until September 20.
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