House Democrats advanced a massive spending package on Tuesday that is poised to provoke an internal party war in the coming weeks.
Lawmakers will begin hashing out the legislative details of a $3.5 trillion budget resolution Democrats unilaterally passed on Tuesday.
The measure advanced after Democratic leaders gave a faction of 10 party centrists a verbal commitment that they would work to align their budget spending bill with Democrats in the Senate, where powerful centrists are seeking to rein in spending.
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The pledge sets up an internal fight between House centrists and liberals, who have warned they won’t support shrinking the spending package to appease the Senate centrists.
House Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, said the House needs to increase the $3.5 trillion package in order to funnel more money into child and elder care, housing the homeless, and other social welfare programs.
“If we are going to be able to deal with the urgency of what we face, I find it very hard to believe that that could be accomplished with anything less,” Jayapal said. “It’s hard enough to accomplish it with the number that’s on the table.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, had little choice this week but to cut a deal with centrists in her caucus, even though they represent a small fraction of all party lawmakers.
Democrats control a slim majority and could afford to lose only three votes in order to pass the budget resolution. Without backing from the centrists, the entire package would have stalled.
Centrists won a second pledge from Pelosi that the House will take up a Senate-passed, bipartisan infrastructure bill by the end of September. The timeline would ensure the measure is signed into law ahead of the Oct. 1 expiration of current federal authorization for highway spending.
Pelosi made a vague reference to the deal in a House floor speech ahead of Tuesday’s vote, appearing to follow a request from centrists that she make the pledge in public.
“We hope to have a plan in place,” Pelosi said. “That is the plan. To have in place the legislation for infrastructure that is bipartisan.”
The House voted to advance the budget resolution as well as the infrastructure bill on Tuesday. The next step involves writing the budget legislation and taking the final vote on the infrastructure bill.
Pelosi must now contend with opposing factions in her party who each have the power to bring down the Democrats’ entire spending agenda.
Liberals, who make up most of the caucus, say lowering the $3.5 trillion budget to win the approval of Senate centrists is a nonstarter, and they are even seeking to increase the cost.
Liberals are also unhappy with the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
The infrastructure measure passed the Senate earlier this summer after lengthy negotiations between the White House and a small group of Republicans and Democrats. It funds roads, bridges, water projects, and expanded broadband access, as well as money to expand electric vehicle charging stations.
House Democrats say the infrastructure bill falls short by leaving out green energy policy provisions and providing insufficient funding for mass transit and rail.
In a nod to liberals, Pelosi said on Tuesday the Senate infrastructure bill “is not inclusive of all of the values we need to build back at a time when we have a climate crisis.”
Democrats, led by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio of Oregon, hope to resurrect the missing elements and include them in the $3.5 trillion spending package.
DeFazio is particularly interested in policy language aimed at eliminating fossil fuels, but that is likely to run afoul of Sen. Joe Manchin, a key centrist Democrat from West Virginia.
Manchin has warned against including a provision in the budget bill that would eliminate fossil fuels.
Manchin, along with fellow Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, aren’t happy with the $3.5 trillion plan and say it’s too big.
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“I have serious concerns about the grave consequences facing West Virginians and every American family if Congress decides to spend another $3.5 trillion,” Manchin said earlier this month.
While dozens of House Republicans are likely to back the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, all of them voted against the rule to advance the measure because it was combined with the rule to pass the $3.5 trillion budget framework. The resolution also advanced a bill to expand federal oversight of elections, which is poised to pass later Tuesday.
“Democrats continue to ram through controversial policies and reckless spending with a complete disregard for the rules and with no consideration of what those decisions will mean for future generations,” said Rep. Michelle Fischbach, a Colorado Republican and member of the Rules Committee.
