Far-left Senate Democrats opposed on Thursday the bipartisan infrastructure deal between President Joe Biden and Republicans due to canceled “climate” provisions.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Vice President Kamala Harris’s Senate seat replacement, told a Forbes reporter shortly after the deal was agreed upon that “This bipartisan deal, it’s not enough. It doesn’t meet the moment.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) also said he was “not willing to support throwing climate overboard.”
In a separate tweet that has since been deleted, Wyden added, “he wants an assurance the bipartisan package tied to any larger reconciliation bill.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Biden backed up Wyden’s insistence Thursday by saying “There will be no infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has also come out in opposition to the deal in a tweet:
The diversity of this “bipartisan coalition” pretty perfectly conveys which communities get centered and which get left behind when leaders prioritize bipartisan dealmaking over inclusive lawmaking (which prioritizes delivering the most impact possible for the most people)
This is why a bipartisan pkg alone isn’t acceptable. The exclusion & denial of our communities is what DC bipartisan deals require. That’s how you get GOP on board: don’t do much/any for the working class & low income,or women, or poc communities, or unions,etc. We must do more.
The deal the Senate Democrats and Pelosi oppose is a $579 billion agreement which presumably does not include tax hikes, something the Democrats also wanted and which the Republicans said they would never approve.
The plan specifics are $579 billion in new spending, $312 billion for transportation, and $266 billion for other infrastructure.
Wyden and Pelosi’s demand of an assurance that far-left items would be included in a reconciliation bill is in reference to what Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is coordinating with committee chairs.
In the probability Democrats do not get what they want out of the bipartisan deal or if the deal fails due to opposition on either side of the aisle, Sanders is planing a safety-valve in which radical items may be included by slipping them in a reconciliation package that is filibuster-proof.
The chances of the bipartisan deal passing the Senate with radical Democrats supporting the measure, along with Senate Republicans, is unknown. It is also unknown if the House, slimly controlled by the Democrats, will also approve a Senate version of the legislation if passed.
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