President Biden signed yesterday afternoon the continuing resolution that keeps the government open through December 3. However, there is still no resolution to the fight among Democrats over the the infrastructure and reconciliation packages.
Not surprisingly, the promised vote yesterday on the infrastructure legislation did not occur, as negotiations among various Democratic blocs and individuals continued into the evening and this morning. Read more about the situation here, here, and here.
Democrats have decoupled the provision to raise the debt ceiling from the continuing resolution (CR) package that would keep the government funded through December 3. This has allowed the Senate to vote on the slimmed-down package this afternoon. After passage by the Senate, the package is expected to be taken up by the House quickly.
Although this means that a shutdown will be averted and that the government will be funded through at least the first few days of December, the question of how to deal with the impending breach of the debt ceiling remains unanswered. Read more about the CR situation here and here.
At the same time, Democrats continue to battle among themselves in a fight over if and when a budget reconciliation bill might be brought to the floor, a decision that also controls if and when the infrastructure legislation might be considered in the House. As noted previously, House progressives have insisted that the entirety of their $3.5-trillion package be brought up first as a way to guarantee their support for the infrastructure bill and to ensure that moderates who are not as comfortable with the size of the reconciliation legislation cannot just vote for the $1.5-trilllion infrastructure bill and oppose the bigger measure.
The same group of House progressives has insisted that the two Democratic Senators who appear to be the most prominent holdouts on the reconciliation bill, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema, offer up a counter-proposal to the $3.5-trillion figure. Just after lunchtime in DC today, Sen. Manchin publicly stated that he is interested in a reconciliation package that would be limited to $1.5 trillion. How these developments impact the negotiations remain to be seen.
Read more about the developments around reconciliation and infrastructure bills here, here, and here.
Even with the deadline to keep the government open past Thursday quickly approaching, furious negotiations are still taking place among Democrats over both the infrastructure and budget reconciliation packages. Thursday is also the day when the House is scheduled to vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill. Whether that deadline– set by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)– is met is becoming more uncertain.
Even as President Biden met with moderate Democrats Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Joe Manchin (WV) about their concerns about the $3.5-trillion reconciliation package, House progressives reiterated their opposition to voting for the infrastructure package this week without a guarantee that a reconciliation package would also move. Among the concerns of the progressive group and their allies is that neither Senator has indicated how large a reconciliation package they would support, if at all.
Read more about the negotiations here and here.
As predicted, the Senate yesterday was not able to adopt the House-passed legislation that would keep the government funded past midnight Friday and raise the debt ceiling through mid-December 2022. As promised, no Senate Republicans voted to move the measure forward for a vote. While Senate Republicans have publicly supported keeping the government open and opposed a shutdown, they have also stated that they will not vote in favor of legislation that includes both a continuing resolution to fund the government and provisions to raise the debt ceiling. With the Senate divided 50-50, Democrats will need to come up with a Plan B to address both a looming shutdown and a potentially catastrophic default.
In a related development, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated earlier today that the federal government may run out of ways to meet its obligations and may breach the debt ceiling on October 18.
After nonstop negotiations with different factions of her own party late last week and through the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) scheduled the floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure package f to start today.
The House leadership finds itself in a tough spot, as a group of Democratic progressives have insisted that they would not vote for the infrastructure legislation that was passed by the Senate on a bipartisan basis without a commitment to bring up a larger $3.5-trillion budget reconciliation package. At the same time, a group of moderates have balked at the size of the reconciliation package while supporting the infrastructure deal. Progressives fear that moderates will walk away from the larger bill if they get to vote on the infrastructure package first. Pelosi had earlier committed to bringing up the $1.5-trillion infrastructure bill for a floor vote today. Vote to pass the bill, assuming there are enough votes, is currently scheduled for Thursday.