House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Thursday suggested she will blow up the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the Senate does not also pass a reconciliation bill.
When asked how she is trying to quell the concerns of the progressive members of her caucus, the 81-year-old California Democrat essentially said she is willing to blow up the deal if their demands are not met, demanding a reconciliation bill to pass Democrat agenda items without the threat of a GOP filibuster.
“It’s as I said. There won’t be an infrastructure bill unless we have a reconciliation bill, plain and simple. … There ain’t going to be an infrastructure bill unless we have the reconciliation bill passed by the United States Senate,” she said, with her remarks garnering approval from far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY):
“Let me be really clear on this: we will not take up a bill in the House until the Senate passes the bipartisan bill and a reconciliation bill,” Pelosi emphasized. “If there is no bipartisan bill, then we’ll just go when the Senate passes a reconciliation bill.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that lawmakers struck an infrastructure deal, with a “group of senators — five Democrats and five Republicans” forging an agreement that he claims will create “millions of American jobs.”
The bipartisan group included Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Jon Tester (D-MT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Todd Young (R-IN).
The announcement comes on the heels of what White House press secretary Jen Psaki described as “productive” meetings between a bipartisan group of senators and senior White House staff on Wednesday, in which they outlined a “potential agreement.”
The tentative agreement reportedly includes $559 billion in new funding.