Emerging from her office late Friday afternoon after hours of negotiations between so-called moderate Democrats and socialists, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced to concede she doesn't have the votes to pass President Joe Biden's agenda.
.@SpeakerPelosi: We had hoped to be able to bring both bills to the floor today. Some members want more clarification or validation of numbers...we honored that request...Today we hope to pass the BIF & also the rule on Build Back Better with the idea of, before Thanksgiving..." pic.twitter.com/HgNzOI2akn
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 5, 2021
In other words, things have collapsed.
The left is threatening to vote down the infrastructure bill, which was passed earlier this summer by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. The House version of the spending bill, which hasn't been scored by the Congressional Budget Office but currently sits at $1.75 trillion, is far too expensive to pass in the Senate.
Pelosi says they still are planning to have a vote on rule and infrastructure bill tonight - and have a separate vote later on passage of Build Back Better once CBO comes back with numbers before Thanksgiving. Week of 15th. Progressives oppose this
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 5, 2021
New - President Biden called Pramila Jayapal this afternoon amid standoff over strategy to advance his agenda, per three sources familiar with the matter. She left CPC meeting early to take the call. I’m told about 20 progressives ready to vote infrastructure down tonight
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 5, 2021
Congressional Progressive Caucus rejects Pelosi’s plan. “If our six colleagues still want to wait for a CBO score, we would agree to give them that time — after which point we can vote on both bills together.” This means that votes on both bills could be delayed til later Nov. pic.twitter.com/1tU7vmFD6J
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 5, 2021
Democrats and the White House have been saying for weeks they are "close" to a deal. They're still miles apart.
"The framework has been agreed upon."
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) November 5, 2021
"We're very close."
"We're going to get this done."
This is the narrative from D leaders for 7 weeks. And again, no vote is going to be held today and won't for weeks until a damning CBO score is presented. Worst week for the party yet. https://t.co/rH3Rwy5X7i
