Progressive Democrats vow to defy Pelosi, vote no on infrastructure bill

Progressive Democrats on Tuesday starkly warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders that their position on President Joe Biden's infrastructure agenda remains unchanged: Without a deal on a broader, social policy bill, they do not intend to support a bipartisan infrastructure bill that Pelosi wants to bring to a vote this Thursday.

"We articulated this position more than three months ago, and today it is still unchanged: progressives will vote for both bills, but a majority of our members will only vote for the infrastructure bill after the President's visionary Build Back Better Act passes," Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement.

"As our members have made clear for three months, the two are integrally tied together, and we will only vote for the infrastructure bill after passing the reconciliation bill," she added.

Jayapal has previously noted that more than 60 members of the nearly 100-member caucus will vote no on the bipartisan bill if it is not passed in tandem with the $3.5 trillion social policy bill.

Shortly afterward, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a tweet, urged progressives to vote down the bill Biden and Pelosi want passed, saying "I strongly urge my House colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill."

Moderates have insisted for weeks they want a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that cleared the Senate last month.

Pelosi privately rallied Democrats in a caucus meeting Monday evening, signaling she plans to push forward with a Thursday vote on the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill, regardless of the status of negotiations on the larger Democratic policy package with the Senate.

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