Just days after the U.S. Senate gave its approval to President Biden’s historic $1 trillion infrastructure bill, members of the House are indicating that passage there may not be a sure thing.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she wants to advance the legislation, but only if House members can first vote on a significantly larger $3.5 trillion budget resolution.
That idea was seen as a way for the Speaker to forward legislation that includes funding for a wide array of spending initiatives above and beyond basic infrastructure projects.
But in response a group of nine House members have said that they will refuse to support the larger bill unless and until the smaller infrastructure legislation is put up for a vote in the lower chamber.
Because Pelosi’s Democratic caucus has 218 members, while the Republicans have 210 members, the defection of the nine members dubbed as “moderates” means that the larger spending bill may be stalled.
In a joint statement, the nine members said, “We should vote first on the bipartisan infrastructure framework without delay and then move to immediate consideration of the budget resolution.”
At the same time a spokesperson for the Speaker has remarked that the infrastructure bill will not be taken up until the budget resolution is first passed.
The Speaker has said that she wants a budget resolution vote to be taken no later than the third week of August.
By Garry Boulard
