You can't say she didn't try.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) plan to bring both the bipartisan infrastructure framework as well as the party's $1.75 trillion spending package to a vote on the House floor — after some rather direct urging from President Biden — was sidelined Friday afternoon after a group of moderates declined to pass the package without a score from the Congressional Budget Office, writes Politico.
Now, the speaker is attempting to reverse course on the long-promised tandem passage of both the infrastructure and spending bills and bring just the roads-and-bridges legislation to a Friday vote, with the hope some Republicans will join in to cover any progressive support the maneuver potentially loses.
Despite all this whiplash, however, Pelosi doesn't appear to view the back and forth as Democrats getting in their own way.
"Welcome to my world. This is the Democratic party," the speaker replied when asked about Democrats' seeming self-sabotage. "It is a party of vitality and diversity, it's something that we all respect and admire."
"We are not a lock-step party," she added (as if we couldn't already tell). "That exuberance is the vitality of our party, which we value and treasure and respect the different opinions within our party."
Depending on how it all plays out, the caucus still plans to take up the Build Back Better legislation by Thanksgiving, Pelosi told reporters. But until then ... it may still be an uphill climb.