WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden spent his Thursday talking to key senators and Democratic leaders in Congress, trying to break an intra-party stalemate that threatens his entire domestic agenda.
But shortly before midnight, it was clear that neither Biden nor Democratic leaders in Congress had managed to broker a deal yet between a group of progressive House members and two moderate Democrats in the Senate, each of whom is refusing to vote in favor of the others’ priorities until their own goals are met first.
“A great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement late Thursday. “But we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting tomorrow morning first thing.”
Biden’s schedule on Friday is open, much as it has been all this week. Psaki said Thursday that this is so the president can be available to congressional leaders and key stakeholders in the House and Senate throughout the day.
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left the Capitol just after midnight on Friday morning, she told reporters, “There will be a vote today,” meaning Friday.
For White House aides who had hoped for a last-minute breakthrough, Thursday’s postponed vote is a disappointment. The $500 billion infrastructure and jobs package is a pillar of Biden’s domestic agenda, and fulfills bedrock campaign promises he made.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets virtually with governors, mayors, and other state and local elected officials to discuss the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, August 11, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
But Thursday’s failure to launch isn’t really a death blow for the bill itself. Its benefits and costs will be felt by Americans for the next decade or more, so whether it passes the House on Friday, or next Monday or next Friday is immaterial.
With stakes so high, it’s little wonder the president has focused his energy almost entirely on Congress this week. On Monday and Tuesday, he hosted the two key senators, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema, for one-on-one meetings at the White House.
A scheduled presidential trip to Chicago on Wednesday was called off at the last minute so that Biden could huddle at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while his negotiators met with Sinema on the Hill.
On Thursday, again, much of Biden’s schedule was left open so he could participate in negotiations.
Pelosi and Biden have been trying to win support for the infrastructure bill among progressives, who say they will not vote for it unless the House is also ready to pass a sweeping budget reconciliation bill to expand the social safety net and climate policy.
But fundamental parts of that bill are still being debated in the Senate. House progressives are worried that if they vote to pass an infrastructure bill championed by moderates, they will lose any leverage they have in pushing these same moderates to back a transformative budget bill later on.
Progressives also insist that any budget reconciliation bill be at least $3 trillion, and include provisions like free preschool and community college, child-care subsidies and an expansion of Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing care.
But on Thursday, Manchin released a signed agreement he reached with Schumer more than two months ago in July that spells out what Manchin would support in a budget bill.
The maximum topline spending that Manchin would vote for is $1.5 trillion.
As of Thursday night, progressives and Manchin still appeared to be more than $1 trillion apart.
But as Pelosi left the Capitol, she told reporters, “We’re not trillions of dollars apart.” She did not elaborate on where the two sides had found common ground.
Pelosi’s iron-willed optimism stands in contrast to some of her colleagues’ more hard-nosed assessments about the bipartisan infrastructure bill’s chances.
On Thursday, a journalist asked House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Pelosi’s deputy, what he thought the odds were of passing the infrastructure bill Thursday night.
“Are you confident it will pass?”
“Nope,” Hoyer replied.
Still, many on Capitol Hill are betting that in the end, Pelosi will nail down the votes she needs to pass the infrastructure bill.
Her ability to find consensus within an often fractious Democratic caucus is legendary, and she appeared to relish the high stakes and ticking clock Thursday.
“Let me just tell you about negotiating at the end,” Pelosi said to reporters. “That’s when you really have to weigh in. You cannot tire. You cannot concede. This is the fun part.”
