According to two Democrats on Saturday, Democratic leaders are aiming to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure measure and a wider social spending proposal as soon as Tuesday.
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) talk to reporters after a bipartisan group of Senators and White House officials came to an agreement over the Biden administrations proposed infrastructure plan at the U.S. Capitol.
Democratic Leaders Have To Finish any Changes to the Legislation
In a recently published article in The Hill, House leaders warned committees that any amendments to the funding bill had to be completed by Sunday and that the House Rules Committee may meet as early as Monday to mark it up, according to a Democratic leadership aide.
Committees have until Sunday to make any changes to the wording or the measures of the social spending bill, and both legislation might be voted on as early as Tuesday, according to an aide, but the timeline is "not written in stone yet."
Meanwhile, the aide who chose not to be named said that "Pens down Sunday for committees to make any changes for revised text. Then Rules would meet as soon as Monday, floor as soon as Tuesday. Schedule not set in stone yet," according to a published article in Reuters.
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Democrats Aim To Reach An Agreement With Moderates and Progressives
After months of delay, Democrats want to achieve a deal with moderates and progressives in their splintered caucus this weekend on the now $1.7 trillion spending package, with a final version completed by Sunday, according to the Democrats.
Negotiations between the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate have lasted into the weekend. But, after missing many self-imposed deadlines in recent months, it is uncertain if Democrats will be able to fulfill the lofty Tuesday goal, according to a report published in Newsweek.
Top Democrats are giving progressives and moderates a push to speed up negotiations and produce a victory for President Joe Biden at the G20 conference, where he will meet with a number of international leaders to address climate change and other global concerns.
Democrats Plan To Pass the Legislations Through Reconciliation
According to a recently published article in the Independent, without Republican backing, Democrats, who have razor-thin majorities in both houses of Congress, aim to approve the amended spending package known as the Build Back Better Act via a budget procedure known as reconciliation.
However, the plan will require the backing of moderate Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to pass the 50-50 Senate split. They have refused to embrace the package despite hefty cutbacks, infuriating progressives in the caucus.
Moderates and Democratic leaders want to get the infrastructure bill enacted as quickly as possible, but progressives have refused to back it unless it is passed with the funding measure.
New York Congresswoman Will Vote Against the Infrastructure Bill
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, had previously said that she would vote against the infrastructure package due to changes to climate change provisions in the bigger spending plan. Earlier this week, a group of progressive members made similar requests, causing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to postpone a likely vote on the infrastructure package on Thursday.
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