Infrastructure bill: Progressive caucus says no infrastructure without reconciliation: LIVE UPDATES
Just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went on ABC’s "This Week" to vow that Democrats will pass the $1 trillion infrastructure plan this week, progressives in the party did their own promising.
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House lawmakers voted 219-212, mostly along party lines, in favor of a standalone bill to suspend the borrowing limit. The bill will proceed to the Senate, where Republican lawmakers are expected to vote it down, as they have with two previous Democratic efforts to raise the debt ceiling.
In a lengthy statement, Sen. Joe Manchin, a key moderate holdout on President Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill, reiterated that he opposes the proposal's cost. Biden and top Democrats are deep in negotiations with Manchin in an effort to reach a compromise.
Manchin argued it would be the "definition of fiscal insanity" to greenlight trillions in additional spending despite inflation concerns, Medicare/Social Security funding shortages and a shaky U.S. economic recovery. The West Virginia said he has made his stance "clear to the President and Democratic leaders."
"While I am hopeful that common ground can be found that would result in another historic investment in our nation, I cannot – and will not - support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces," he said. "There is a better way and I believe we can find it if we are willing to continue to negotiate in good faith.
"If there is one final lesson that will continue to guide me in this difficult debate ahead it is this: America is a great nation but great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending and bad policies. Now, more than ever, we must work together to avoid these fatal mistakes so that we may fulfill our greatest responsibility as elected leaders and pass on a better America to the next generation," he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrived at the White House at around 4 p.m. ET. Democratic leaders are scrambling to reach a consensus on President Biden's $3.5 trillion spending bill.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Wednesday that Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., must make a "counteroffer" on President Biden's Build Back Better proposal.
"They need to come up with their counteroffer and then we sit down and negotiate from there," Jayapal told NBC News' Sahil Kapur.
Jayapal appeared on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon, where she called for "a vote" on reconciliation before supporting infrastructure.
This past weekend, Jayapal sent a warning to moderate Democrats, saying nearly 50 people in her caucus will torpedo the bipartisan-negotiated infrastructure bill if the more expensive "reconciliation" bill doesn't get approved first.
When asked about the White House's confidence that a vote on infrastructure bills would take place as scheduled on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to make a prediction.
"We expect our team, the president, is going to be working around the clock the rest of today, overnight, into tomorrow morning and we're going to be working in lockstep with Speaker Pelosi," Psaki said. "He trusts her implicitly, she knows what her caucus needs, there's a shared commitment to winning this vote, but right now, I can't look into a crystal ball quite yet."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Wednesday echoed President Biden while speaking to reporters, claiming the $3.5 trillion dollar spending bill would cost nothing.
“It's not about a dollar amount. The dollar amount, as the President said, is zero. This bill will be paid for. It's about what are the values that we share, and how we prioritize them," Pelosi said.
Biden was ripped as "economically illiterate" earlier this week after he tweeted that his Build Back Better plan "costs zero dollars."
"Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America," Biden continued. "And it adds zero dollars to the national debt."
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked Tuesday about the talking point, where she acknowledged the top earners in America will "pay more" to cover the costs.
"There's a clear difference to what we're talking about as it relates to taxpayer funds or funding that would lead to our debt, right, which I know a lot of Republicans are supposedly concerned about" Psaki said. "Fifty of the top companies last year in 2020 paid not a dollar in taxes. A lot of high-income individuals pay lower tax rates than nurses and teachers. No one thinks that's fair. Yes, we're asking them to pay more. Yes, it will cost them more."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Wednesday fired back against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., when he was asked about her comments on a need for a deal on "legislative language"with the White House for reconciliation in order to get progressives to support infrastructure Thursday.
"That won't happen," Manchin said.
CNN's Manu Raju followed up to ask him to elaborate, prompting Manchin to say, "We haven't been negotiating in good faith. No one has been negotiating along those lines with the other parties here."
"All we need to do is pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, sit down, and start negotiating in good faith. That's it," Manchin continued.
Pelosi told reporters earlier Wednesday there needs to be a "legislative language" agreement with President Biden by Thursday in order to get progressives onboard to support an infrastructure deal.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate will be prepping a stopgap spending bill Wednesday in an attempt to avert a government shutdown early Friday morning, Fox News' Chad Pergram reported.
The bill would only renew all current funding levels through Dec. 3.
While speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer claimed "Republican stupidity" is blocking the suspension of the debt limit.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday that the U.S. could run out of cash by Oct. 18 if the debt limit is not raised.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Senate could vote on a stopgap bill to avert a government shutdown Wednesday, Fox News' Chad Pergram reports.
The bill would then go to the House. It would be "clean" without a debt limit increase. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the U.S. could run out of cash by Oct. 18 if the debt limit is not raised.
Just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went on ABC’s "This Week" to vow that Democrats will pass the $1 trillion infrastructure plan this week, progressives in the party did their own promising.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Congressional Progressive Caucus on Tuesday issued a stinging rebuke of the voting on the bipartisan package without first passing President Biden’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation package.
The caucus said it is still committed to "delivering the transformative change that people throughout this country urgently want, need, and deserve."
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blocked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in his bid to bypass a GOP filibuster and raise the debt ceiling with a simple majority vote on Tuesday afternoon.
Schumer asked the Senate for unanimous consent to lower the voting threshold to 50 votes for a standalone debt ceiling bill. McConnell objected to Schumer's request, scuttling the effort and forcing Democratic leaders to seek another path to raise the limit without Republican support.
"The Democratic Leader knew this request would fail," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "There is no chance the Republican Conference will go out of our way to help Democrats conserve their time and energy so they can resume ramming through partisan socialism as fast as possible."
President Biden will postpone a planned trip to Chicago on Wednesday so he can continue negotiations with Democrat holdouts on his $3.5 trillion spending bill, the White House confirmed.
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