Democrats scramble to satisfy centrists with Biden’s agenda on the line

Democrats pushed late into the evening on Thursday as they sought a path forward for Joe Biden’s $3.5tn economic agenda, working to cobble together a pared-back version that would satisfy centrist holdouts.

The late-night wrangling appeared unlikely to give way to a promised vote on a slimmer $1tn public works package that was scheduled for Thursday. The delay underscored the fragile state of the negotiations, as the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, tried to break a stalemate between moderates, who are pushing for a vote on the infrastructure bill, and progressives who believe it would be insufficient without the broader social policy package.

In a sign of the deep mistrust underpinning the discussions, a coalition of progressives is refusing to support the infrastructure bill in the House unless progress is made on the more expansive legislation containing many of the party’s top policy priorities.

Both pieces are critical to Biden’s economic vision. He spent weeks personally courting Republican senators to secure a bipartisan victory on the infrastructure bill, which would invest $1tn in upgrading roads, bridges and broadband. But he has staked his presidency – and his legacy – on the passage of the mammoth social policy bill that would expand healthcare, make childcare more affordable, establish paid federal leave and combat climate change, paid for by tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations.

In a vaguely worded letter to colleagues, sent shortly after 9pm, Pelosi indicated that a vote on Thursday night was unlikely.

“It has been a day of progress in fulfilling the President’s vision to Build Back Better. Thanks to so many Members and staff, the work is being done,” she wrote.

“Discussions continue with the House, Senate and White House to reach a bicameral framework agreement to Build Back Better through a reconciliation bill.

“All of this momentum brings us closer to shaping the reconciliation bill in a manner that will pass the House and Senate,” she said, concluding the letter with the promise: “More to follow.”

A delayed vote would be a setback for Pelosi, a self-described master negotiator who insisted earlier that Democrats were “on the path to win” the infrastructure vote.

Yet with only three votes to spare, and Republicans largely opposed, Pelosi has so far been unable to untangle the competing promises made to progressives and centrists in time.

In an effort to placate a small band of centrist Democrats, Pelosi promised to bring the infrastructure bill to the House floor for a vote this week. But progressives had long maintained that they would only support that bill if it passed in tandem with the far more expansive $3.5tn package.

When it became clear on Thursday that the Senate was not prepared to pass the legislation as written, progressives doubled down on their threat to tank the infrastructure bill, which they saw as leverage for ensuring Biden’s entire agenda was enacted.

By late Thursday night, the fate of Biden’s agenda remained in limbo. With Democrats deeply at odds, it was unclear how they planned to move forward.

The terms of the negotiations were largely driven by two Democratic holdouts in the Senate, who are opposed to the current size of the spending package. On Thursday, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would not support a spending package that exceeded $1.5tn, less than half of the size of the proposal being pushed by Biden and most of the Democratic party.

Amid the negotiations and with only hours to spare, Congress passed legislation to avert a government shutdown at midnight on Thursday, with Biden later signing a measure that would fund the federal government through 3 December.

The measure was passed by the House and Senate with bipartisan support, though a significant number of Republicans voted against it.

source: theguardian.com