Progressives call for House vote

A key House panel was set Wednesday to review the latest version of President Joe Biden’s social safety net and climate plan as Democratic leaders try to contend with small groups of holdouts.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi can only afford to lose three members of her caucus if she hopes to pass the spending bill on a party-line vote.

After months of refusing to pass an infrastructure bill without first finalizing the companion social spending bill, House progressives pressured their leadership on Wednesday to hold votes on both bills this week.

If the House Rules Committee advances the social and climate bill soon, the chamber could have a chance to meet their timeline. Rules Committee consideration is one of the last steps before a bill goes to the full House for a vote, raising hopes Wednesday that the measure could be voted on within a matter of days.

By pushing for votes this week, progressives attempted to shift the narrative away from one where the party’s left wing is the obstacle to passing Biden’s signature legislation.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., expressed confidence that the House could pass both bills in the coming days.

“We’re going to pass both of these bills this week,” she told MSNBC on Wednesday. “I don’t say things without having some reason for believing them,” she added, “So yeah, we’re going to get them done.”

But as progressives urged swift passage of their party’s economic plans, some Democratic centrists called for a pause on voting for the crown jewel of Biden’s agenda: a $1.75 trillion social and climate spending package. The clashing stances marked a role reversal for these two flanks of the Democratic Party.

Though they have come close to finalizing their economic agenda, Democrats still have to push past several obstacles to enact the sprawling social safety net expansion and the refresh of transportation and utility systems that they promised voters.

The House Rules Committee planned to meet Wednesday afternoon to consider the latest draft of the safety net and climate bill, but it was unclear if the committee would be finished with its assessment by the end of the day.

There were also fresh questions Wednesday about whether the bill House Democrats eventually pass will be one that bears a stamp of approval of the two Senate swing votes, centrist Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Until now, House Democrats have tailored their bill to meet the demands of both Manchin and Sinema, on the assumption that approving a bill in the House that could not pass the Senate would be an exercise in futility and a dangerous political gamble.

But on Wednesday, Pelosi acknowledged that there will be provisions in the House version of the bill that do not have Manchin and…