| President Biden on Tuesday traveled to La Crosse, Wis., the first step in what seems likely to be a lengthy publicity tour to tout the bipartisan infrastructure plan he appears to still have enough support to advance (if only for now). "America has always been propelled to the future by landmark national investments," Biden said in a speech at the La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility. "Investments that only the government has the capacity to make." It's not unusual for presidents to go to the people to try to sell major legislation to voters (and it's no mistake that Biden's first stop was a swing state). But in this particular case, Biden might need a little extra public support on his side, after a rhetorical stumble that made it a bit more difficult for Republicans to support the agreement, reached last week by five Republican and five Democratic senators. Though Biden was quick to backpedal on his demand that a separate spending measure backed only by Democrats arrive on his desk before he'd sign the bipartisan deal into law, other top Democrats are signaling that's still the plan — even if Biden isn't continuing to link the two bills publicly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said she won't hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill without also getting the Democrats-only bill, which could cost as much as $6 trillion and would address Democratic priorities including funding to combat climate change and create green energy jobs. The White House walked a fine line on how exactly things will play out now, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday refused to say Pelosi should back off her plan to condition the bipartisan bill on also getting a Democrats-only bill from the Senate. "It's up to them to determine the sequencing of legislation," Psaki said. One holdup: Neither bill has actually been fully written yet, meaning there's nothing to vote on right now. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he wants to pass both in July, but that's starting to look unlikely, with the Senate set to be away from Washington until July 9, and only back for a month before a month-long break from D.C. starting on Aug. 9 (it's sometimes referred to as the "August recess" or "August vacation," but Capitol Hill staffers often insist it's a "state working period"; regardless, Senators are usually far away from Washington in late summer). Also, because of the even 50-50 split in the Senate, the Democratic-priorities measure would have to go through the lengthy reconciliation process to avoid a Republican filibuster. The administration has work to do convincing progressives, in both chambers of Congress but particularly in the House, that their priorities won't be abandoned, and that a larger reconciliation bill is coming. And what's actually in that bill matters, too; Democrats need all 50 of their senators onboard with any reconciliation bill, meaning they can't lose a single liberal who thinks the potential bill doesn't fulfill enough Democratic priorities, nor a single moderate who worries the bill goes too far. That's a fine line for Biden and Democratic leaders to walk. Then they have to get both bills through the House — and with a majority of fewer than 10 seats, they can't afford to lose many votes. In the meantime, though, Biden is taking his deal, and his celebration of an actual bipartisan breakthrough in the Senate, to the voters. Pelosi makes it official Pelosi announced Monday that she will, in fact, introduce legislation to appoint a select House committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the events surrounding it. It seems likely to pass in the House on Wednesday — though probably with little to no support from Republicans. The select committee won't look anything like the proposed nonpartisan commission that failed to gain passage in the Senate last month; instead of outside appointees, it will be made up of lawmakers — eight chosen by Pelosi, and five chosen "after consultation with" House Republican leaders. It isn't clear who any of those House members could be, or exactly how they'll be chosen — but a Pelosi aide told The Washington Post that she's "seriously considering including a Republican among her eight appointments." That would seem to be an attempt at boosting the committee's credibility; some Republicans have already started to attack it as partisan. Pelosi could pick one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riots. The Fix's Aaron Blake writes there are several obvious candidates for that spot, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) or Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), two of the most outspoken anti-Trump Republicans in the House. Blake writes: Both Cheney and Kinzinger have indicated that it's up to Pelosi to select the members, which suggests each would indeed serve if asked. Another possibility floated by Politico is former congressman Denver Riggleman (R-Va.), another sharp Trump critic who served in the House until a few days before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Three of those 10 impeachment-supporting Republicans who seemingly could have been Pelosi's picks, though, have criticized the formation of the select committee. And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has refused to say he wouldn't appoint members of his caucus who went out of their way to minimize the events of Jan. 6; hence the language saying five members of the select committee will be made "after consultation" with GOP leadership. Things will become clearer after Wednesday's expected House vote. And who each party picks to serve on the committee will shape how it's run, and the rhetoric coming out of it (especially if Pelosi and McCarthy each pick members willing to publicly attack the other side). | 
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