U.S. Congressional Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday she was optimistic about getting a massive infrastructure plan approved this week, but admitted the vote, originally scheduled for Monday, could be postponed due to differences among Democrats .
US parliamentarians have a busy comeback this week, with three crucial bills for President Joe Biden: a $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure investment plan, a colossal $ 3.5 trillion in social reforms, and a financing law to avoid a shutdown, that is to say the paralysis of the American federal services.
Backed by Democrats and Republicans, the first infrastructure component was approved by the Senate in August, and Mr.me Pelosi had promised to put it to the vote of the House of Representatives “by September 27”, that is to say Monday, at the latest.
Asked Sunday on the ABC channel about this bill, she assured that it would be approved “this week”.
–
–
“I never put a law to a vote if I don’t have enough votes,” she noted, admitting that there are divisions in the Democratic camp, whose left wing demands to vote from first on the vast project of social reforms, fearing that the “moderates” refuse to support this very expensive component as soon as they have obtained the check for infrastructure.
The amount of the reform project, meanwhile, will likely have to be revised downward, warned the leader of the Democrats. “It seems obvious,” she said. “Let’s not talk about numbers and dollars, let’s talk about values.”
Republicans are fiercely opposed to this project dubbed Build Back Better by Joe Biden, crying out “irresponsible” spending. To bypass the blocking power of the Republicans in the Senate, the Democrats have chosen a special parliamentary path that will allow them to adopt this text with their only narrow majority (50 senators out of 100, in addition to the vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris ).
But the Democratic bloc is still a long way from an agreement around a final text, with centrists saying in particular that they will not go beyond 1.5 trillion dollars.
–
–
However, if this reform law is not adopted in 1is October, the first day of the US fiscal year, federal government funding will suddenly dry up. To give themselves more negotiating time, the House Democrats have therefore approved a bill that provides for extending the current US government budget until December 3.
But this text must now be approved by a majority of 60 votes in the Senate, and the Republicans have warned that they will oppose it. “It is more than irresponsible”, judged Mme Pelosi.
–
