Top Democrat Says Infrastructure Talks ‘Not Over’ If Vote Slips
Top Democrat Says Infrastructure Talks ‘Not Over’ If Vote Slips
(Bloomberg) -- Assistant U.S. House Speaker Katherine Clark said Democratic leaders are continuing to work to lock down the necessary support ahead of a planned vote Thursday on a $550 billion infrastructure package, even as she downplayed the significance of a potential delay.
“Whether that vote happens today, and I hope it does, this is not over,” Clark, a member of House Democratic leadership, said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg TV’s “Surveillance” program. “If we haven’t reached that point in our negotiations, our commitment is to getting this entire agenda done, and that will happen.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has so far stood by plans to hold a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill Thursday, although Democratic infighting is threatening to tank the measure. Progressives have pledged to vote against the infrastructure bill unless there’s agreement on a larger tax and social spending package that encompasses most of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
Biden and White House officials have held multiple meetings this week with two key Democratic moderates -- Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona -- who have opposed the size of the broader package. Their votes are necessary for Democrats to to pass the package in the evenly divided Senate through a budget process known as reconciliation that would bypass a filibuster.
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