| President Biden appeared to get a win in his quest for a bipartisan infrastructure bill on Thursday, as he and a group of 10 senators — five Republicans and five Democrats — agreed on a $973 billion deal that includes $579 billion in new spending. "They've given me their word," Biden said Thursday. "Where I come from, that's good enough for me." While that's a win for bipartisanship, though, it's not a win for Democrats who wanted a significantly more ambitious package (Biden's original proposal totaled about $2 trillion). That's where Democrats' strategy comes into focus: They want to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill with at least 60 votes in the Senate, but also to pursue a potentially much larger, Democrats-only bill using the reconciliation process, a procedural maneuver for spending and tax bills that wouldn't require any GOP votes. (It's the same process they used to pass a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill in March.) But this 2-bill plan isn't dependent on convincing just Republicans in Congress; Democrats have to be willing to go along, as well. And that's not guaranteed. "We have two tracks," Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) told Politico. "But ultimately, the two tracks all have to meet at the end to make sure that we actually have a climate infrastructure package." Markey had previously summed it up more succinctly in a tweet, writing, "No climate, no bill." Markey isn't alone; Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) warned the administration earlier this month that "An infrastructure package that goes light on climate and clean energy should not count on every Democratic vote," while liberal members of the House have also said they won't vote for a package that cuts out such funding; Democrats only have a nine-member majority right now. That means actually getting a bill — or two — passed into law will require a bit of a tightrope walk. Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) both said Thursday that they won't allow the bipartisan bill to move forward unless it is also accompanied by a reconciliation bill; Pelosi said she won't allow the House to vote on the former unless the latter has already been passed by the Senate and sent to her chamber, while Biden said he won't sign the bipartisan bill into law unless a reconciliation bill also comes to his desk. To get that done, though, requires several pieces to fall into place. Five Republicans traveled to the White House Thursday to get Biden's sign-off on the bipartisan bill, but at least five more GOP votes are needed for it to pass — and that's if every Democrat in the Senate votes for it. And liberal Democrats upset at the removal of other priorities, like funding to combat climate change and create clean energy jobs, say they won't vote for it unless their concerns are addressed in the separate reconciliation bill, which could cost about $6 trillion, far more than Republicans would ever agree to spending. But the reconciliation process also requires the buy-in of all 50 Democrats in the Senate. That leaves Biden with a delicate balancing act: Getting 10 GOP votes for the bipartisan bill, getting all 50 Senate Democrats onboard with a reconciliation bill, and convincing House Democrats (where his party only has a 219-211 majority) to pass both. Pelosi formally announces committee to investigate Jan. 6 Pelosi committed Thursday to an investigation of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. "It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen and that we root out the causes of it all," she said. While several House and Senate committees have already started investigating various aspects of the riot, in which about 800 people illegally entered the Capitol and nearly 140 Capitol Police officers were injured, Pelosi's select committee will represent a more centralized investigation. But it's so far unclear how many House members will serve, and how many will be Republicans. Regardless of how its set up, it will likely be attacked as partisan by Republicans: Not only did the GOP not want this kind of investigation in the first place, but such a committee appears partisan, given it will be run by sitting members of Congress and administered by the Democratic majority. Pelosi says the committee will spend "as long as it takes" to investigate two subjects: How the Capitol was breached, and the root causes of the riot, likely including how former president Donald Trump stoked the insurrection. And that could, in turn, mean that the Jan. 6 attack is consistently in the news as we get closer to the 2022 midterms. | By Shayna Jacobs, Rosalind S. Helderman and Devlin Barrett ● Read more » | | | | 
Email 
No comments:
Post a Comment