The House Democrats’ splintering leaves a vote on the bill in the air as the GOP solidifies opposition.
Senator Bernie Sanders says any attempt to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill without passage of another key piece of President Joe Biden ‘s massive economic agenda would be a “violation of an agreement that was reached within the Democratic Caucus in Congress.” “More importantly, it will end all leverage that we have to pass a major [social safety net expansion] bill,” said Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Budget Committee, in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “That means there will be no serious effort to address the long-neglected crises facing the working families of our country, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor,” he said. The infrastructure package has been locked up in the House, where progressive Democrats say they won’t vote for it until they are assured about passage of Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending package, which includes universal prekindergarten, free community college, paid parental leave, Medicaid expansion and other social program measures. “This agenda is not some fringe wish list: it is the President’s agenda, the Democratic agenda, and what we all promised voters when they delivered us the House, Senate and White House,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement Tuesday.
