The Senate took two major steps in the past 24 hours toward fulfilling President Joe Biden’s infrastructure agenda, yet despite growing threats from at least 10 members of his party, the president remains optimistic he’ll sign both bills into law by the fall.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package and advanced the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package early Wednesday morning, both of which Biden called “important [steps] toward passing my Build Back Better Agenda — my plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families, all paid for by making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.”
SENATE DEMOCRATS APPROVE BUDGET WITH $3.5 TRILLION IN ‘INFRASTRUCTURE’ SPENDING
“Government is once again working for the people,” he said on Twitter.
Last night, the Senate took an important step toward passing my Build Back Better Agenda — my plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families, all paid for by making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.
Government is once again working for the people.
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 11, 2021
Administration officials told the Washington Examiner that the bills mark “historic” wins for both the president and the public and that the massive investments in physical and human infrastructure will help modernize the country and compete with countries such as China.
Still, nine centrist House Democrats wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday voicing inflation-related concerns with parts of the larger package.
Those Democrats — Jim Costa of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Susie Lee of Nevada, Jared Golden of Maine, and Vicente Gonzalez, Filemon Vela, and Henry Cuellar of Texas — applauded “the work of the bipartisan group of Senators and the Biden administration for reaching a final agreement on a Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework,” which the letter notes received the full endorsement of the 58 members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.
“Separately, as we begin the reconciliation process, we have concerns about the specific components of that potential package,” they continued. “These specifics are crucial, particularly given the combined threat of rising inflation, national debt, and the trillions recently, and appropriately, allocated to the COVID-19 emergency.”
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who sided with his party during Wednesday’s procedural vote, said in a statement later on Wednesday that though he supported advancing the package, he still maintains “serious concerns about the grave consequences facing West Virginians and every American family if Congress decides to spend another $3.5 trillion.”
“Adding trillions of dollars more to nearly $29 trillion of national debt, without any consideration of the negative effects on our children and grandchildren, is one of those decisions that has become far too easy in Washington,” he continued.
Manchin claimed that “given the current state of the economic recovery, it is simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession — not an economy that is on the verge of overheating” and urged his “colleagues to seriously consider this reality as this budget process unfolds.”
Currently, Democrats only maintain an eight-seat majority in the House and would require all nine of the letter’s signatories to vote yes, assuming the measure receives no Republican support, to send it back to the Senate. Similarly, the reconciliation package would require “yay” votes from Manchin and Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who has previously stated she would support $3.5 trillion in new spending if it swings back to the Senate for final passage.
Biden, fielding questions from reporters at the White House on Tuesday, acknowledged the work is “far from done.”
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“I think, over the next month, which is the way it’s going to work, they vote on all of these amendments, and then they get to the business of seeing how they can make it work, and then come back — I know you understand this well, but the public wonders what we’re talking about sometimes — and decide exactly what’s in that reconciliation bill and how much is going to be spent,” the president told reporters. “I think we will get enough Democrats to vote for it, and I think that the House will eventually put two bills on my desk: one on infrastructure and one on reconciliation.”
