“Let me tell you, after that statement, we probably have even more people ready to vote ‘no’ on the bipartisan bill,” she said.
The standoff did not explain the fate of the infrastructure measure. While a handful of centrist Republicans plan to support it, GOP leaders are urging their members to oppose it, barring Democrats, who lack the votes to pass the bill if there is a progressive rebellion.
“The plan is to get the plan on the floor,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters, returning to Capitol Hill after a huddle at the White House with Biden and New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader. Asked if he was worried about votes, he said, “once in an hour.”
Soon after passing a law lifting the statutory limit on federal borrowing until December 16, 2022, it attempted to prevent a catastrophic federal loan default the following month, when the Treasury Department says it will breach the current cap. .
Senate Republican blocked a democratic effort To link the increase with a bill that will keep spending to keep the government funded, and is likely to oppose the bill passed by the House, which was approved on Wednesday on a nearly party-line vote of 219 to 212. Still, the move indicated that Democrats were willing to act separately on a government funding measure, explaining the shutdown, despite the debt limit remaining unresolved.
But much of the urgency on Wednesday was focused on salvaging the president’s agenda, when Mr Biden and his aides approved his program on Wednesday in an effort to broker a deal among Democrats.
Some Democrats have complained this week that the president has not engaged in talks to their satisfaction. For example, he welcomed groups of progressives and moderates to the White House last week, but met with each separately as opposed to holding group talks sessions.