This week will be a consequential week, as the House and Senate work to address both infrastructure bills, funding to keep the government open, and the looming debt ceiling. The House will now vote Thursday on the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill, pushing back an originally planned vote for today that Democratic moderates had demanded as part of a deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California). Lawmakers will still debate the bill on the House floor on Monday, but the actual vote will be pushed to September 30, the day surface transportation programs are set to expire, Speaker Pelosi announced in a Sunday night Dear Colleague. For today, the House met at noon and will take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill at 2 p.m., with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. The House Democratic Caucus will meet at 5:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the House Budget Committee advanced the larger social spending infrastructure bill. Some progressive lawmakers insist the smaller $1 trillion infrastructure bill be held back until the bigger measure is ready and moderates want the infrastructure bill enacted whatever the progress on the larger package, which includes provisions for expanding healthcare for children and the elderly and for investing in steps to drastically reduce emissions blamed on climate change. Progressives fear that if the infrastructure bill passes, moderate Democrats in the Senate will then shelve work on that second package. Moderates say progressives are trying to use the infrastructure bill as leverage to force them into agreeing to higher taxes and spending than they are comfortable voting for. Speaker Pelosi did not specifically address how the divisions within the Democratic Party would be bridged, but said the final figure for the larger measure would likely be lower than $3.5 trillion and that a vote is expected this week.
While the infrastructure bills are playing out on the House side, the Senate will meet at 3 p.m. to take up the motion to proceed to the bill that would avert a government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling. The cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the House passed bill will come at 5:30 p.m. but its fate remains uncertain with Republicans threatening to block the measure. Lawmakers have until Friday to approve funding for the government or a shutdown will be triggered with the sticking point is the inclusion of a debt ceiling increase in the funding bill, which Republicans say they are unwilling to support and are demanding that Democrats take the political heat for the increase. The government spending legislation needs 60 votes to break a filibuster in the Senate, meaning at least 10 Republicans would have to break ranks. So far, only one Republican senator, John Kennedy of Louisiana, has said he is likely to vote for it, citing disaster aid funding his state needs. Technically, the United States hit its debt limit at the end of July, following a two-year extension that Congress agreed to in 2019. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been using “extraordinary measures” since then to delay a default. Those are essentially fiscal accounting tools that curb certain government investments so that the bills continue to be paid. It is estimated that Treasury will really run out of cash sometime between October 15th and November 4th. However, it is more difficult to project the so-called drop dead date because of all the pandemic relief money that the government is distributing and uncertainty surrounding how much tax revenue will be collected this fall.
Adam S. Olsen, Washington, D.C.
