View in web browser

PRESENTED BY

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN
WITH MAX COHEN AND CHRISTIAN HALL

THE TOP

President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have served in Congress for a combined 70 years. Yet it was the Congressional Progressive Caucus, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal — in just her fifth year as a House member — who spoiled their plans for a quick vote Thursday on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Pelosi was forced instead to pass a short-term extension of surface transportation programs until Dec. 3. That capped off a confusing, disheartening day in which no one in the House leadership seemed to know what was going on. Some privately questioned whether Biden and the leadership had lost control of the caucus.Republicans mocked their Democratic counterparts, while Pelosi and other party leaders were left wondering what went wrong.

Let’s be abundantly clear: Pelosi, her leadership team and Biden proved utterly unable to convince progressives that their strategy — pass the infrastructure bill in order to give the president a political victory as he departed on a high-profile European trip — was a sound one. Biden came to the Capitol twice during the last month at Pelosi’s request to talk about the infrastructure bill, yet he was unable to crack the progressives’ opposition.

“Do I think we were hurt? No, I think we were disappointed. I think 90% of the caucus was disappointed,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told us Thursday night. “I think we’re going to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill at some point in time. Soon is in the eye of the beholder.”

We then asked if Biden was damaged politically by the delay. “It never helps you not to get what you want when you want it,” Hoyer said. “But people forget pretty soon. You get by this.”

The White House’s view, though, is that this is all much ado about nothing. Administration officials argue that no one will care in the end that the infrastructure bill got pushed back again. They say they are closer than ever to passing two transformative pieces of legislation. That’s mostly true. The framework Biden unveiled for the $1.5 trillion Build Back Better Act is gaining support among House and Senate Democrats, although a final deal on the legislation continues to elude them. Biden could still end up passing both that and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is the Democrats’ ultimate goal. “What’s a few more days?” That’s what several White House officials said to us last night. 

Yet there’s no denying Thursday’s episode was an embarrassing setback for Democrats, Biden included. Biden was supposed to help Pelosi bridge an ugly split between moderates and progressives. That didn’t happen. In fact, it may be even worse.

Strangely, when Biden met with House Democrats Thursday, he didn’t ask them to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Pelosi was trying to get to the floor. 

Instead, the president urged rank-and-file lawmakers to back both the infrastructure bill and the framework for the Build Back Better Act, which the White House unveiled early that morning. Pelosi had to jump up and say they should vote for the infrastructure bill during Thursday’s caucus meeting. Progressives noticed Biden’s omission, and they later argued that Biden had given them the green light to say no on infrastructure until the reconciliation package is completely agreed upon and turned into legislative text, which may take weeks.

This wasn’t just an oversight by Biden either. The White House adopted a deliberate hands-off approach to yesterday’s scheduled vote, Democratic lawmakers and aides said.

This is a new anecdote from yesterday: During a call between White House Legislative Director of Legislative Affairs Louisa Terrell, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, several senior White House officials, and key Democratic lawmakers, Terrell was repeatedly asked to spell out their position on the infrastructure bill, according to multiple sources. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), chair of the New Democrat Coalition, asked straight out whether Biden wanted House Democrats to vote for the infrastructure bill. The White House officials said they “support both bills,” meaning the infrastructure and reconciliation bills. This further strengthened progressives’ argument.

And Biden called a member of the House from Air Force One as he flew to Rome to thank her for her public support for the Build Back Better Act. Yet Biden never once mentioned the infrastructure bill, said sources familiar with the call.

“We would have had a victory today if only he had asked for it,” one Democratic aide said of Biden.

Jayapal insisted that Thursday’s debacle was not progressives’ fault.

“I told anybody that would listen that we did not have the votes for a BIF vote tonight,” Jayapal said. “The president did not ask for a vote today. I just want to be very clear about that. The speaker did but the president did not. The president said he wants us to pass both bills, and that this coming week was going to be critical for that.”

Democrats got an additional five weeks in surface transportation funding, but they vow to get a deal quicker than that. Although, as we know all too well, Congress’ track record is to delay and procrastinate until the last minute. 

The concern for Pelosi, Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer now is whether they can deliver on either infrastructure or reconciliation, much less both, in the next few weeks. Up until now, Democratic leaders have made progress, but every time they look close, new problems seem to crop up.

If Republicans win next week’s Virginia gubernatorial election, that would serve as a massive blow to the party, especially skittish moderates who are already worried about the midterms. Biden carried the state by 10 points one year ago. A loss there would bring back the echoes of the 2010 cycle all over again. At that time, Democrats dragged out the talks over the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — for months, while the Tea Party movement took off nationally. Losing the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races were the first signs of the coming GOP wave, when they won 63 House seats and ended Pelosi’s reign as speaker. Republicans would like to do it a second time if they could.

What an incredibly big week ahead for Pelosi, Biden and Schumer. 

The Coverage: 

→ WaPo’s Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan: “Biden raises the stakes with the biggest gamble of his presidency” 

→ NYT’s Jonathan Weisman and Emily Cochrane: “A Social Policy ‘Framework’ Fails to Secure a Biden Victory”

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS … ? 

Progressives say they’re ready

Here’s a good sign for Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Progressives tell us they think they’ll be ready to vote on the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation bill as early as next week.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said: “We will deliver both these bills …  from the House this week.

But will the reconciliation package be ready? Everyone involved, from the White House to party leaders to Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) say they made a lot of “progress” during the high-stakes negotiations of the last few days. But they keep reiterating they don’t have a deal yet. The revenue portion of the reconciliation package is still open, and Democrats are still fighting among themselves over Medicare expansion, prescription drug pricing, paid family leave and immigration, among other issues.

However, party leaders now have the framework proposal released by President Joe Biden on Thursday, which Manchin and Sinema both praised and the Congressional Progressive Caucus has endorsed. A big chunk of the text for the proposed package has been publicly released as well.

Progressives point out that there is now an open line of communication between Jayapal and Senate Democrats, including Sinema, whom she met with on Thursday.

But progressives still want more than just vague assurances on the reconciliation package from Manchin and Sinema before voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. 

“I think we need confidence that this is going to pass the Senate,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told us before ducking into an elevator Thursday night. “Maybe them talking to us? As a caucus, we need the House of Representatives to be in this room. Even in the beginning of the summer, this was about the White House and the Senate, and the House was excluded from this. This is, I think, the result of that omission. And so we need to get on the same page together and move forward together.”

So after several days of high political drama in the House, we’re once again waiting on Manchin and Sinema to give their OK.

POWER PROFILE

Why Jayapal has been successful

Whether you love her or hate her, you have to admit that Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has been very successful in exercising power this year. 

In the House, lawmakers typically get their power by banding together to create coalitions, whether on committees or regional blocks or by party. Jayapal and her progressive cohorts have stayed unified for months, never budging from a simple ask: they wanted a vote on the reconciliation and infrastructure bill together. Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised progressives this would happen, and they have held her to that promise.

Observers of Congress have begun to compare Jayapal and the progressives to the House Freedom Caucus’ high-profile role during ex-Rep. Paul Ryan’s speakership. It’s not meant as a compliment.

But that analysis misses some critical points:

→ Jayapal’s CPC wants to pass legislation, not overthrow their own leadership. The Freedom Caucus knocked off one GOP speaker, prevented the rise of his successor and made life hell for Ryan.

→ The CPC is much bigger than the HFC ever was — nearly five times as big — thus it’s harder to hold the progressives together. 

→ Jayapal and the CPC are, in some ways, more effective than the HFC because they stick to one goal at a time. The Freedom Caucus was all over the place. They had shifting goals and demands that were difficult to keep up with or even figure out at times.

→ The Freedom Caucus also gained former President Donald Trump’s ear, because it helped him further undermine the GOP establishment in Washington. Progressives are good with President Joe Biden, but that relationship is vastly different. Biden is the Democratic establishment, and he has been for decades — from powerful committee chair to presidential hopeful several times to, finally, commander in chief. 

→ The CPC is completely led by Jayapal. At the apex of its power, the HFC was led by Mark Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), close allies who mostly shared the same goals. And we underline mostly. 

Some have questioned Jayapal’s strategy — and that’s fair enough. But if you’re a progressive, the simple question is how can you trust that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are going to have your back? If you hold back one of the legislative goals they want — infrastructure — it’s a good insurance policy to make sure you get what you need on reconciliation.

Jayapal and progressives have also been smart in that they continually wrap themselves in the pro-Biden mantle. They’re taking this hardline approach on the infrastructure bill — repeatedly defying their own leadership — in order to help Biden.

“Let’s just be really clear about that point,” Jayapal said Thursday night after Pelosi announced there would be no infrastructure vote. “Because we were willing to fight for the entirety of the president’s agenda. We were able to create these negotiations, and we were able to get the entire caucus together. And we were able to and now we are in a position where we should be able to vote for both these bills.”

But the frustration inside the House Democratic Caucus is real.

“People are frustrated right now,” Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) said. “There’s a lack of trust and you got a lot of members here that have been here four years or less and they don’t seem to understand how you get things done.”

“Their reason for not supporting [infrastructure] is a political reason, a reason that only resonates within the Beltway. But it does not resonate with my constituents or their constituents,” complained Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), co-chair of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition. “They have to own their righteousness. Trade it for clean water, safe bridges, a decent commute, public transportation that works for people who can’t afford cars.”

Here’s one Democratic lawmaker who chimed in anonymously: “This has been so maddening. On all sides. I’m equally annoyed with Manchin and Jayapal. We have the thinnest of majorities and each side of this debate thinks they’ve got a mandate for their agenda. They don’t. We should take the wins we can achieve.”

FRONTS

MOMENTS

All times local to D.C.

6 a.m.: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will have an audience with Pope Francis.

6:55 a.m.: Biden will meet with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

7:55 a.m.: Biden will meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

9:15 a.m.: Biden will meet with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

10:15 a.m.: Biden will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. ​

CLIP FILE

NYT

→ “‘America Is Back,’ Biden Declared in June. The World Is About to Test Him.” by Katie Rogers and Jim Tankersley

→ “How Biden’s $2 Trillion in Tax Increases Target Companies and the Rich,” by Alan Rappeport

→ “For First Time in Public, a Detainee Describes Torture at C.I.A. Black Sites,” by Carol Rosenberg in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

WaPo

→ “New budget deal marks the biggest climate investment in U.S. history,” by Steven Mufson and Sarah Kaplan

→ “Jan. 6 committee allows Trump DOJ official to postpone appearance after he loses his lawyer,” by Tom Hamburger and Josh Dawsey

WSJ

→ “Facebook Changes Company Name to Meta in Focus on Metaverse,” by Sarah E. Needleman

→ “U.S. in Talks to Pay Hundreds of Millions to Families Separated at Border,” by Michelle Hackman, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman

AP

→ “Biden, pope to talk virus, climate, poverty at Vatican,” by Josh Boak and Zeke Miller in Rome

Enjoying Punchbowl News AM?

Subscribe 10 friends with your unique link (below) and get a Punchbowl News hat!

Your referral link is: 

You can see all the rewards in here!

Or share via

You currently have: 0 referrals

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images