Infrastructure Vote Uncertain Amid Mired Social Spending Bill Negotiations
As of Thursday morning: Unable to secure the support of a group of progressives in her caucus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left open the possibility that today's vote on the infrastructure bill may be pushed. The decision is linked to talks with holdout senators over the $3.5 trillion social spending package — and those negotiations are forcing Democrats to make hard choices on health care. Meanwhile, Congress is moving forward with legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown — but the plan leaves the thorny debt limit in place for now.
The Wall Street Journal:
Infrastructure Bill’s Fate Uncertain Heading Into Planned House Vote
A crucial piece of President Biden’s domestic agenda hung in the balance Thursday, as Democratic leaders moved toward a planned House vote on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that many progressive Democrats have threatened to oppose. ... But the infrastructure measure’s fate was far less clear, as Democratic leaders tried to unify the party’s increasingly combative progressive and moderate wings around changes to a separate $3.5 trillion healthcare, education and climate package. (Duehren and Peterson, 9/30)
AP:
Congress Moves To Avert Partial Government Shutdown
Congress is moving to avert one crisis while putting off another with the Senate poised to approve legislation that would fund the federal government into early December. The House is expected to approve the measure following the Senate vote Thursday, preventing a partial government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins Friday. (Freking, 9/30)
The Washington Post:
Biden Sticks To His Dealmaking Strategy, As Some Democrats Want Him To Do More To Bring Holdouts On Board
President Biden is navigating the most perilous week for his legislative agenda yet with an approach he’s honed over his decades in Washington: Hear out the warring factions, determine the realm of the possible and find the point of compromise that satisfies all sides. That strategy has been clear in meetings with pivotal Democrats in the past week, with Biden speaking and hosting a stream of lawmakers — in particular a pair of moderate Senate Democrats who have wielded outsize influence in shaping the president’s agenda. (Kim, 9/29)
Politico:
Manchin Offers Alternative Plans To Democrats' 'Fiscal Insanity'
Joe Manchin released a statement on Wednesday afternoon panning his colleagues’ spending plans as “fiscal insanity.” Then he started to lay out how he wants to work on President Joe Biden’s family plan. As all of Washington hangs on his every word, Manchin said he did want to clinch a reconciliation bill even as some progressives fear he’s trying to kill the whole thing. But rather than approach the effort as the multi-trillion-dollar social spending and climate change bill envisioned by his colleagues, Manchin said Democrats needed to start with gutting the 2017 Trump tax cuts and go from there. (Everett, 9/29)
Politico:
Biden Bets It All On Unlocking The Manchinema Puzzle
Joe Biden knows the way to progressives’ hearts but he’s still trying to figure out what makes Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema tick. Between now and Thursday, the White House is devoting all of its energy to sketching out a framework for a social spending and climate package upon which the factions of the Democratic party can agree. Inside the West Wing, the belief is that it all begins with nailing down the two centrist Senate Democrats on what they can live with in the president’s $3.5 trillion plan, in the hopes that their support will clear a path to pass both that bill and the infrastructure proposal waiting for a vote in the House. (Barron-Lopez and Korecki, 9/29)
Also —
AP:
Agonizing Choices As Dems Debate Shrinking Health Care Pie
Democrats are debating how to divide up what could be a smaller serving of health care spending in President Joe Biden’s domestic policy bill, pitting the needs of older adults who can’t afford their dentures against the plight of uninsured low-income people in the South. “There’s always a battle of where you place your priorities,” Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democratic leader, said Wednesday. “We don’t means-test Medicare, which means that pretty wealthy people will be getting both dental care (and) vision care while poor people will be denied. ... I don’t know that that’s a real good choice.” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/30)
The Washington Post:
Democrats May Fail To Cut Prescription Drug Prices In Reconciliation Bill
When House Democrats made their pitch for the majority ahead of the 2018 midterms, party leaders focused their message on “kitchen table” economic issues — and one in particular that, according to polls and focus groups, resonated broadly across America’s political divides. “The American people deserve A Better Deal on the cost of prescription drugs,” the midterm platform read, promising an end to pharmaceutical industry price gouging and pledging negotiated prices for Medicare. (DeBonis, 9/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Industry Lobbyists Aim To Pick Apart Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill
Lobbyists for drug companies, oil and gas firms, the tobacco corporations and other U.S. industries are pressuring allies in Congress to gut measures that would help pay for the bill by raising billions of dollars from their industries. ... Drug-industry lobbyists are working to remove provisions that could cost the industry a combined $700 billion over a decade, including one that would allow the government to negotiate bulk discounts for prescription drugs through Medicare. (Mullins and Mann, 9/29)
KHN:
As Democrats Bicker Over Massive Spending Plan, Here’s What’s At Stake For Medicaid
Hours after the Supreme Court in 2012 narrowly upheld the Affordable Care Act but rejected making Medicaid expansion mandatory for states, Obama administration officials laughed when asked whether that would pose a problem. In a White House briefing, top advisers to President Barack Obama told reporters states would be foolish to turn away billions in federal funding to help residents lacking the security of health insurance. (Galewitz, 9/30)
