Democrats Hit Impasse on Infrastructure Bill, Broader Spending Package

Liberal Democrats have promised to oppose the infrastructure package unless it comes up after the Senate has passed the $3.5 trillion budget package, a move they see as a way to pressure centrists to support the budget legislation.

Mrs. Pelosi has said for weeks that she wouldn't bring the infrastructure bill to the House floor until the Senate passes the broader budget package.

Democratic leaders had initially planned to hold separate votes on the procedural measure, known as a rule, which would advance both the infrastructure bill and the budget framework, as well as a separate bill giving the federal government stronger oversight of states' voting practices, before voting Tuesday on passage of the budget framework itself.

The centrist Democrats said their stance reflected their concern that waiting for the budget bill to get passed in the Senate could delay the infrastructure bill by weeks, if not months.

In a nod to the centrists' concern about timing, Rep. Peter DeFazio, the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Monday that he hoped to pass the infrastructure bill by the start of October.

"For those who are worried about delay, my goal is to pass the bipartisan infrastructure package before Oct. 1, when current surface transportation programs expire, and the bipartisan infrastructure package would go into effect. But it will take all Democrats working together to do that," Mr. DeFazio wrote.

Mr. Manchin lent his support to the demands of the nine House Democrats on Monday, calling on the House to pass the infrastructure bill quickly.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-near-showdown-on-infrastructure-bill-broader-spending-package-11629745295