UPDATED: 30 SEP 2021 06:31 PM EST
Speaker Nancy Pelosi scrambled Thursday to reach a bicameral deal that Democrats think is key to unlocking the votes for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, in a daring test of her control over the threadbare majority.
The California Democrat spent the final hours before the planned vote huddling with White House and Senate aides in an attempt to craft a spending bill framework that both House progressives and moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) can accept.
Pelosi is muscling ahead with the vote despite persistent liberal threats to tank the bill without a clear path forward for the party’s separate — but politically linked — social safety net bill. But many senior Democrats remain skeptical that the deal can come together in time, with just three votes to spare in the House.
“This is a pass-fail test. Either we have everybody or we don't,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said.
In a flurry of meetings Thursday, Pelosi clambered to nail down a deal on legislative framework for the broader spending deal between the party’s two factions, according to Democrats with knowledge of her thinking.
That framework wouldn’t be legislative text, but would be more in depth than an outline. The goal is to include agreement on the bill's total cost and major policy provisions in three areas: family issues like child care and paid leave; health care; and climate change.
Pelosi has also called in outside reinforcements to encourage members to vote for the infrastructure bill, including influential labor groups who are sending letters to members of Congress.
The herculean push by Pelosi and her leadership team carries enormous stakes: some Democrats warn that a high-profile failure on infrastructure would deal a lasting blow to Biden’s agenda, further inflaming tensions across the party.
But even as Democrats remain uncertain about the vote, they acknowledge that this kind of high stakes, all-consuming whip operation is precisely Speaker Pelosi's wheelhouse.
“We’re on a path to win the votes. I don't want to even consider any options but that,” she told a packed room of reporters Thursday morning. “Think positively.”
Multiple Democrats said part of the plan would be to hold the vote open until Pelosi can corral enough members for passage, whether that be from the progressive wing of the caucus or from Republicans who support the infrastructure bill. One member described it as a "staredown" strategy.
Progressive leaders emerged Thursday afternoon from a lengthy meeting in Pelosi’s office, declaring that their members would hold the line against infrastructure without a vote on that broader party-line bill.
“We are in the same place,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said, flanked by other top liberals. Still, she wouldn’t say if Pelosi was willing to delay the vote: “There’s always a chance. ... All kinds of things could happen very quickly.”
During a private leadership meeting Thursday morning, several members of Pelosi's team expressed reservations about bringing the bill to the floor given the lack of support within the caucus. But, later, during another meeting with moderate Democrats, Pelosi privately reiterated her intention to hold the vote later in the day, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
One new dynamic was thrown into the mix Thursday as Manchin — one of two Senate centrists key to any agreement — confirmed that he was proposing a price tag of $1.5 trillion, as first reported by POLITICO.
But that figure was not enough to satisfy liberals, who are pushing for a $3.5 trillion bill, down from an initial $6 trillion plan. And while negotiations among Democratic leaders are underway, it remained uncertain whether Pelosi, Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could nail down an agreement across their party to pave the way toward a vote by Thursday.
Pelosi and her leadership team have been working at a frenetic pace to secure the votes, with calls and meetings to key factions across the caucus. After her meeting with Jayapal and the progressives, Pelosi also sat down with members of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, led by Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), and met separately with members of the New Democrat Coalition, led by Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.).
“It's happening today, we're moving forward,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) told reporters after the Blue Dog meeting.
“We're all Democrats, we have our differences,” added Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas.). “But we're going to vote today.”
Meanwhile, House GOP leaders are formally whipping against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, working to limit defections on a vote that could deliver a key legislative win to the Biden administration.
In recent weeks, Republicans have hammered the message that they view the Senate-approved plan as tethered to Democrats' larger social spending package, which they argue is ample reason to oppose it.
“I think the majority… of our members are going to vote ‘no’ because they don't view it as an infrastructure bill,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said during a Thursday press conference.
“That is no longer one bill — it is reconciliation with infrastructure. That's not something we want, that's not something we can afford, and that's not something we support.”
Despite the pressure campaign, some centrist Republican members have already publicly announced their support of the plan — though these GOP votes are not expected to save the bill from dozens of House progressives who have vowed to oppose the bipartisan bill.
If Pelosi does yank the bill, senior Democrats predicted she would wait until the final possible moment, and after the House has already cleared its most urgent business for Thursday: a stopgap funding bill to keep the government open. The House passed that nine-week stopgap bill Thursday afternoon.
After the House cleared the temporary spending bill, Democratic leaders sent out a notice saying no additional votes would occur before 9 p.m.
But even with the stopgap bill cleared, another key deadline looms: the expiration of key surface transportation programs. Democrats have hitched that reauthorization to the passage of the infrastructure bill — an attempt to ratchet up pressure on members to back the bill.
But failure or delay of the infrastructure package could put those projects in jeopardy.
Hoyer said Democrats were “obviously considering all options” to renew the programs — which could include a standalone, narrow bill.
“One way or another, we'll take care of it,” House Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told reporters Wednesday. “Either through passing the [bipartisan infrastructure package], or, if necessary, some other form, but there's no way we're gonna let it shut down and cause that kind of disruption.”
Olivia Beavers contributed to this report.
