On Thursday, Politico reported that West Virginia Democratic senator Joe Manchin had signed a letter all the way back in July informing Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer that Manchin wouldn’t support a new reconciliation bill that costs more than $1.5 trillion.
This afternoon, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, leader of the House Progressive Caucus, said progressives still plan on killing the infrastructure bill if there’s a deal on reconciliation that looks like the Manchin proposal:
If a deal comes together tonight looked anything like the Manchin memo, “I don’t think it would go anywhere”
— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) September 30, 2021
Politico reports Speaker Pelosi is considering bringing the infrastructure bill to the floor without any guarantee she has the votes to pass it: “Multiple Democrats said one way it could work would be to hold the vote open until Pelosi can corral enough members for passage, whether that be from the progressive wing of the caucus or from Republicans who support the infrastructure bill. One member described it as a ‘staredown’ strategy.”
