Get Ready: Critical Week On Hill Will Shape Fiscal Future, Biden’s Agenda
Amid shaky support within its own caucus, House Democratic leaders are continuing to move forward on dual tracks with the massive social spending package and a Thursday vote on the infrastructure bill. Also in the mix is the debt limit and partial government shutdown threats.
Politico:
House Budget Dems Approve Unfinished $3.5T Social Spending Plan
House Budget Democrats approved their $3.5 trillion spending plan in a rare Saturday session, sending more than 2,400 pages of text to the floor as the party looks to signal progress on the massive bill heading into a critical week. The measure passed along party lines at the start of a markup that would last nearly eight hours, filled with debate and voting on nonbinding GOP motions spanning issues like inflation concerns, abortion and electric vehicle tax credits, all of which were defeated. As the markup dragged into the night, Democrats and Republicans sniped at each other while members struggled to vote from the driver’s seat of moving cars, outdoor venues, the golf course and their bedrooms. (Scholtes and Emma, 9/25)
Stat:
Democrats’ Opposition To Drug Pricing Reform Is Shrinking, Ahead Of Key Vote
Ten House Democrats fired a warning shot in the spring that they could cause trouble for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s signature drug pricing reform legislation. But as the House prepares to vote on a multitrillion-dollar spending bill that appears likely to include those drug pricing policies, it’s almost impossible to imagine all 10 voting against the entire package. (Cohrs and Florko, 9/27)
The Hill:
Pelosi Sets Thursday Vote On Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
The House will vote Thursday on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, pushing back an originally planned vote for Monday that Democratic moderates had demanded as part of a deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Lawmakers will still debate the bill on the House floor on Monday, but the actual vote will be pushed to Sept. 30, when some surface transportation programs are set to expire, Pelosi announced in a Sunday night missive to Democrats. (Marcos, 9/26)
Politico:
Pelosi Sets Infrastructure Vote As Dem Leaders Struggle To Unify Caucus
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday announced the House will vote Thursday on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, as Democratic leaders race to unify their fractious caucus ahead of a critical week. Pelosi told her members Sunday night that the vote will now take place Thursday, the same day that a slate of surface transportation programs expire, rather than Monday as originally planned. Debate on the infrastructure legislation will still begin Monday, Pelosi said — the date she and a group of moderates had originally agreed upon in August. (Ferris and Caygle, 9/26)
NBC News:
Congress Braces For High-Stakes Week Over Shutdown, Default And Infrastructure
The Democratic-controlled Congress is poised for a chaotic week. On Monday, the Senate is bracing for a vote — which Republicans have already vowed to block — to avert a government shutdown and a debt default. The government would shut down Friday if there's no resolution. The House is expected to vote Thursday on an infrastructure bill that progressive Democrats have threatened to block to maximize their leverage over a separate multitrillion-dollar package. The vote had originally been scheduled for Monday. (Kapur and Finn, 9/27)
In related news —
The Hill:
Democrats Urge Biden To Go All In With Agenda In Limbo
Democrats are urging President Biden to lean way in as the party faces big divides amid a rocky stretch, with his signature legislative item at stake. The calls for Biden to act as the party’s unifier-in-chief comes as the president acknowledged that his agenda is at a “stalemate,” amid high-profile fights between not only moderates and progressives but the House and Senate over the scope of the sweeping spending package. (Carney, 9/26)
Politico:
These Republicans Helped Craft The Infrastructure Bill. They Might Not Vote For It.
A motley gang of deal-making House Republicans took partial credit for pushing through President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan this summer. That doesn’t mean they’ll all vote for it. The roughly 50-member centrist group, dubbed the Problem Solvers Caucus, wedged its way into this summer's multitrillion-dollar talks between Biden and some like-minded Senate Republicans. While the group's exact role in prying loose a Senate compromise is up for debate, many of those House members, including Republicans, claimed a critical role. (Ferris and Wu, 9/26)
The New York Times:
For Schumer And Pelosi, The Challenge Of A Career With No Margin For Error
Last week, as all outward appearances suggested gridlock on Capitol Hill, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi were in perpetual motion, grasping to salvage their $3.5 trillion social policy and climate change bill. On Tuesday, Mr. Schumer convened breakfast for 20 Democratic senators, a sit-down at noon with key Democratic moderates, including the balking Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, then on to the weekly lunch with the full Democratic caucus. (Weisman, 9/26)
Politico:
Whose Kid Is That? Dems Want Big Changes In Who Qualifies For Child Tax Break
House Democrats don’t just want to expand their signature Child Tax Credit payment program, they also want to redefine what it means to be someone's child. As part of their sweeping reconciliation plan, they are proposing to overhaul, for the first time in almost a generation, the legal definition of a child that’s used to claim the hugely popular break. But that's not as simple as it sounds, and implementing it could become a bureaucratic nightmare. (Faler, 9/26)
