House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) plan for passing a reconciliation bill prior to a bipartisan infrastructure bill may have hit a snag.
A group of nine moderate House Democrats plan to warn Pelosi in a letter Friday they won't vote for a key budget resolution until a bipartisan infrastructure bill is first passed in the House and signed into law, The New York Times reports.
This "could put Pelosi's plans in jeopardy," CNN writes. The House speaker has said she will hold up the bipartisan infrastructure package until a reconciliation bill is first passed in the Senate, promising in June, "There ain't going to be an infrastructure bill, unless we have the reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate." Pelosi hoped this timeline would "assuage liberal Democrats more interested in the social policy bill," the Times writes. A budget resolution, CNN writes, "must be adopted by the House before both chambers are allowed to advance a sweeping economic package worth $3.5 trillion" and containing numerous Democratic priorities.
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But in the new letter, the moderate Democrats write, "Some have suggested that we hold off on considering the Senate infrastructure bill for months — until the reconciliation process is completed. We disagree. With the livelihoods of hardworking American families at stake, we simply can't afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package."
This letter, The New York Times wrote, revealed a "major rift that threatens the carefully choreographed" strategy by congressional Democrats and the Biden administration.
"This is as firm a threat as this group of moderate Democrats has made," Punchbowl News also writes. "And if they hold together, they can prevent Pelosi from passing the House Democratic budget resolution the week of Aug. 23."
