U.S. House progressives led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush dug in their heels Tuesday as right-wing Democrats attempted to salvage a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill while sidelining the more ambitious Build Back Better package championed by the party’s left wing and President Joe Biden until after the weaker bipartisan legislation is passed.
Bloomberg reports Nancy Pelosi (D.Calif. House Speaker) and the congressional Democratic Leadership insisted that a framework deal on the budget reconciliation bill would be sufficient to allow lawmakers to proceed with a separate vote regarding the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation delayed Earlier this month, progressives expressed concern that their $3.5 trillion package would have to be sacrificed.
CNN Manu Raju, chief congressional correspondent tweeted that after Pelosi “pushed back on progressives’ demands” that a “larger bill must pass [the] House first before they agree to vote for infrastructure,” Jayapal (D-Wash.) asserted that a framework was unacceptable.
“Our members don’t want to do that,” Jayapal said Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
On whether there are still more than half of her caucus who hold this position, Jayapal said: “I haven’t made my way all the way through the list, that’s what I’m doing. But I would say we have several dozen.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 26, 2021
Jayapal was asked if she would vote against infrastructure bill if it didn’t include a framework for the larger bill. told Raju that “at this point, there are dozens of our members who are in that place.”
Jayapal and Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agreed. telling Bloomberg that “a mere framework is not enough.”
“We need to have a vote ready for the Build Back Better plan, not a framework,” she insisted. “We want to have both of these votes together.”
Bush (D.Mo.) was determined also dismissed talk of a framework agreement, tweeting simply, “It’s not enough for me. And there are more of us.”
It’s not enough.
There are many more. https://t.co/QxBdgocrgg
— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) October 26, 2021
The impasse was reached as Bloomberg According to others, the Democratic leadership is working hard to reduce the $3.5 Trillion Build Back Better bill that President Trump and progressives favor to less than 2 trillion.
Some progressives took aim at right-wing, corporate-backed Democrats — namely, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — who have relentlessly worked to shrink the size and scope of the reconciliation package.
