Tonight, everything is going terribly wrong for the Democratic leadership.
Joe Biden had planned on beating it out of town today, back to his beach house in Delaware But then when it was clear that the Build Back Better bill (BBB) wasn’t going to be voted on tonight — yet again — he called a dinner lid and decided not to leave this evening.
The White House has announced that President Biden, and his first wife, are not traveling tonight to Rehoboth. This is because negotiations for the House’s economic agenda continue.
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) November 5, 2021
As we reported earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi can’t seem to get her act together. For months, she has been torn between Democratic moderates (BBB), and Democratic progressives (BIF) on the Build back Better bill (BBB), and bipartisan infrastructure bill.
@SpeakerPelosiWe had hoped that we could bring both bills up to the floor today. Some members want more clarification or validation of numbers…we honored that request…Today we hope to pass the BIF & also the rule on Build Back Better with the idea of, before Thanksgiving…” pic.twitter.com/HgNzOI2akn
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 5, 2021
Pelosi, after being pressured by the moderates, finally decided to vote for the BIF tonight. Pelosi decided that she would dare progressives vote down the BIF and call their bluff. She believed she would be able to get enough votes for them to cave.
Pelosi extended the BBB vote delay, but they will be having a procedural vote tonight. That isn’t on the bill itself. Punchbowl News Jake Sherman reports that it attempts to get moderates to vote for the BBB in the event of a positive CBO score.
From me @bresreportsThis is:
Moderates and House Progs could reach an agreement tonight that would allow two votes, BBB rule or BIF.
Mods would be required to vote for BBB in the deal if they are satisfied with their score
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 6, 2021
Rep. Steny Hogue (D-MD), stated that he believed they could vote on the BBB bill before Thanksgiving.
Although Biden had called a “dinner lid” for the evening, there was word that he was reaching out to try to whip some of the votes to pass the BIF. Biden even reportedly put the arm on the president of the progressive caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), who had said they would be voting against it and she was a “no.”
> @AOC says she is also a no on BIF tonight https://t.co/NeAG4ifis4
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 6, 2021
“I do believe there are a large number of members of the progressive caucus who will vote for the bill,” Pelosi claimed. “I have Speaker’s secret whip count.”
But even if it passes, the Senate isn’t going to pass it as written so this seems a pretty empty gesture. What’s all the point of this besides a House effort to pretend to the base that they’re doing something?
Language warning:
Yes. https://t.co/nvlEu2WsG1
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 6, 2021
Pelosi presented this video at a press conference on yesterday. In a sense, the video encapsulates all the chaos surrounding the Pelosi/Biden legislative effort. Is this what Pelosi is trying to say? We’re not sure. The only thing we can say is that as awful as she is, she isn’t as bad as Biden. This is how awful it is.
Please elaborate @SpeakerPelosi—
Was that what you were trying to say?
Was that what you meant?pic.twitter.com/TBdYfSXvaP— Ellen Streiff 🇺🇸 (@EllenStreiff) November 5, 2021
We have this kind of leadership now. God bless us all.
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