President Joe Biden is siding with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the path forward for his two infrastructure proposals, even as nine centrist House Democrats clash with party leadership on the voting schedule for the packages.
Pelosi is proposing that both the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package and the bipartisan $1.2 trillion proposal proceed in tandem, yet Democratic Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Jared Golden of Maine, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, and Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, and Filemon Vela of Texas have called for an immediate vote on the bipartisan plan over fiscal concerns regarding the larger bill. Two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have both voiced similar concerns.
DEMOCRATS’ SPENDING AGENDA ON THE LINE IN MONDAY VOTE
Should the nine centrists vote against Pelosi’s rule — a preliminary vote is tentatively scheduled as soon as Monday evening — neither infrastructure package would be able to proceed to the floor.
“This could take many months to get a final reconciliation package done. That’s a risky move when you have so many jobs on the line and obviously a real need for infrastructure,” Gottheimer told Punchbowl News this week of his group’s stance. “I don’t understand why we would hold it up.”
The White House confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Monday, however, that Biden still backs Pelosi’s timeline for the legislation, and it’s worth noting that the majority of Democrats, both inside and outside the government, agree with him.
“No,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said when asked if the president prefers an immediate vote on the bipartisan bill over Pelosi’s plan. “He has been clear that he wants both bills on his desk and that he looks forward to signing each. He supports Speaker Pelosi’s approach to the rule because it provides for consideration of the Build Back Better agenda, the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, and critical voting rights legislation.”
Eight of the aforementioned nine House Democrats did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s inquiries on the negotiations by press time, while a spokeswoman for Cuellar’s office declined to comment.
The White House has spent recent days lobbying the House’s “mod squad” to ease their legislative threats, people familiar with those discussions additionally told the Washington Examiner.
Top administration officials, including White House Office of Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell, her Deputy Director Shuwanza Goff, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, Office of Management and Budget acting Director Shalanda Young, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, have all held calls with those nine Democratic representatives and urged them to support the Pelosi rule.
The president has also been involved in negotiations with Democratic leadership, including two calls with Pelosi in the past four days.
The White House additionally circulated on Monday an analysis from the Council of Economic Advisers’s Jared Bernstein and Ernie Tedeschi outlining supposed ways Biden’s spending proposals would ease growing inflation, often cited by legislators as a primary motivator for potentially voting against the infrastructure bills.
“We understand that policymakers must be mindful of the impact of their decisions on the price pressures we have seen in recent months. And, it is true that some of these measures are likely to generate demand in areas like construction, where materials and labor have, of late, shown transitory supply-constraints,” the analysis reads. “The infrastructure and [Build Back Better] plans have salient differences from the Rescue Plan, and these differences have impactful implications for their inflationary effects. When we account for fiscal impulse, spend-out timing, new revenue, and the boosts to the economy’s supply-side, the economics behind the President’s investment agenda strongly support his assertion that those worried about inflation right now should embrace these plans.”
Press secretary Jen Psaki also reiterated that assertion at Monday’s briefing.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Psaki’s White House briefing below.
