.@SpeakerPelosi on Build Back Better: "We have some important decisions to make in the next few days so we can succeed."
She says she's "very disappointed" the package won't be the full $3.5 trillion.
But: "It will be transformative. It will produce results."
Pelosi doesn't get into which programs will be cut to make the price tag but there are "choices to be made." She says child care and universal pre-K go together, for e.g. "Mostly we would be cutting back on years." She says others have told her they want all the programs.
Pelosi said some lawmakers have written back to her and said they want all the programs.
As for timeline for passage, she is "optimistic we'll get to where we need in a timely fashion."
On divisions: "We are a Democratic Party. We are not a rubber-stamp or lockstep party."
Pelosi grins when she’s asked what program will be the first to go in order to cut the price tag.
“You must be kidding.”
She says that’s part of the negotiation and won’t discuss it publicly.
She does note that some dates will be moved up to lower cost.
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Mitch McConnell backed down in the debt limit fight because, according to Republican aides and senators, he feared there would be too much pressure on Manchin and Sinema to nuke the filibuster to avoid a global economic meltdown. nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
PELOSI: "I just told members of my leadership that the reconciliation bill was a culmination of my service in Congress... Remove all doubt in anyone's mind that we will not have reconciliation. We will have a reconciliation bill. That is for sure."
Pelosi on holding an infrastructure bill vote in the House: "So far so good for today."
Then she adds: "It's impossible to persuade people to vote for the BIF without reassurances that the reconciliation bill will occur. And it will."
Pelosi on House infrastructure vote: "I have to deal step by step on this... I'm only envisioning taking this up and winning."
At a Democratic caucus meeting, Rep. Ro Khanna had some sharp words that were unmistakably directed at Kyrsten Sinema and her reconciliation tactics — and he received applause.
We caught up with @RoKhanna and he had more to say.
One dynamic @LACaldwellDC picked up on today: House liberals have more patience for Manchin as he’s from a ruby red state Trump carried by ~40 pts, less patience for Sinema who’s from a blue-trending state that voted for a D president + 2 Dem senators.
.@RepJayapal, after meeting privately with Pelosi for ~90 minutes, says she made clear to the Speaker: “At this point, if we don't have the reconciliation bill done, the infrastructure bill will not pass.”
Jayapal says “half” the 95-member progressive caucus is prepared to vote down the infrastructure bill unless the larger budget bill passes the Senate.
“We can’t move the other bill forward until we pass reconciliation,” she says.
.@RepJayapal doesn’t get into what she and Pelosi discussed in terms of timelines, but said: “We have to deliver the entirety of the president's agenda to his desk.”
Why is this important? The Senate presiding offer—which VP Harris can become whenever she wants to—has the power to rule in opposition to the parliamentarian and it’d take 60 votes to block the VP. In this case that’s 10 Democrats saying no, immigration should not be included.
Now, to do that would be to effectively go nuclear. If there’s no nonpartisan referee on Byrd rule limits it needn’t exist—the party in power can do whatever it wants by simple majority vote in reconciliation.
Biden-Harris could force that issue but there’s no sign they want to.
New —> Debt limit standoff intensifies as McConnell says Republicans oppose raising it
"Mitch McConnell is as serious as four heart attacks and a stroke," says one Republican senator. "And I don't think he's going to budge." nbcnews.com/politics/congr…
It's time to take the debt ceiling fight seriously.
The White House expects Republicans to blink on the debt limit. A WH official says @POTUS doesn't believe it should be subject to negotiation, period. He's taking the same position as second-term Obama—no discussion, just raise it—when the GOP did cave. nbcnews.com/politics/congr…