Member-only story
If the Infrastructure Bill Passes Before the Budget Bill.
The fate of the budget bill depends entirely on progressives holding their ground.
Recently, the house voted on moving forward with the blueprint for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, also now referred to as the budget bill. It contains virtually every positive provision that was stripped from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and thus has many on the left very interested in seeing it passed. In an agreement that stems from the early discussions surrounding the infrastructure bill, Democrats bargained that in exchange for yes votes from progressives in congress on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, it would effectively be tied to the reconciliation budget bill. With media fawning praise on Pelosi for getting the blueprint passed as though the bill itself has been passed, there’s still a long way to go.
While passage of the blueprint was a small step in the right direction the fact remains that the budget bill still needs to be written…and yet Pelosi has agreed with a handful of conservative Democrats in the House to hold a vote on the bipartisan bill on September 27th, which many have said now fractures the tie between the two bills. The apparent fracture effectively destroys any leverage progressives have in this situation.
