As a bipartisan group of senators and the White House compromised on a physical infrastructure package Thursday, some prominent Democrats – including the president himself – are threatening to tank its passage unless some of their top priorities are included in a complementary reconciliation bill.
The $1.2 trillion bipartisan legislation, which has the backing of five Senate Republicans and Democrats and President Joe Biden, includes more than $550 billion in new spending towards roads, bridges, waterways and other projects. However, it omits key Democratic items like climate change and child care provisions, frustrating progressives who have said that they are blowing their chance to enact sweeping, long-sought policy goals.
As a solution, Democrats are preparing a multi-trillion dollar reconciliation package that includes their central priorities and requires only a simple majority to pass, and have conditioned their support for the bipartisan bill on unified Democratic support of their own legislation. Given the Senate’s 50-50 split and the bipartisan bill needing 60 votes to overcome a potential filibuster, any Democratic no votes could risk sinking the legislation.
“I can’t vote for some small subset … you know, the infrastructure train leaves the station and child care gets left on the platform, green energy gets left on the platform, billionaires don’t have to pay gets left on the platform,” Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren told MSNBC Wednesday. “It’s that all of the pieces have to move because ultimately it’s one deal.”
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