Pelosi Confronts Last-Minute Hang-Ups on Biden Agenda Votes

Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to keep Democrats on track for votes Friday on President Joe Biden’s economic package and a separate infrastructure bill with last-minute negotiations to ensure full party support.

Despite months of intra-party tension and negotiations, Pelosi and Democratic leaders were still contending with 11th-hour changes and demands from party moderates for a full cost estimate of the bill. Biden said at the White House that he would be making calls to lawmakers.

“I’m asking every House member, member of the House of Representatives, to vote yes on both these bills right now,” the president said.

As the House convened Friday morning, Pelosi met in her office with a group of moderate Democrats, some of whom had been pressing for a fuller cost analysis of the spending package from the Congressional Budget Office before any vote.

“Everyone’s waiting for the CBO to do their job,” said Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who was part of a group that met Pelosi that included Representatives Stephanie Murphy of Florida and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.

He said he would vote “no” on the economic plan without a CBO score and a vote on the infrastructure bill. Whether the House goes through with a vote is a “million dollar question.”

A full CBO score won’t be done today and could take two to three more weeks.

Pelosi can afford to lose no more than three Democratic votes if Republicans all vote against the spending package, as expected, and Democratic leaders stalled the start of debate while they continued to press for votes.

Other moderates in the meeting said they were ready to vote.

“Let’s get this done,” New Jersey Representative Josh Gottheimer said on Twitter.

House passage of both measures would deliver a much-needed victory for the president, whose approval ratings have plummeted. A stunning loss for Democrats in the Virginia gubernatorial race and an unexpectedly close call for the incumbent governor of New Jersey generated fresh impetus for the party’s lawmakers to finish work on both the economic package, known as Build Back Better, and an infrastructure measure.

Approval of the infrastructure measure, already passed by the Senate, will send it directly to Biden’s desk.

Biden has been directly involved in negotiating with House and Senate Democrats and he made calls to House members on Thursday asking them to vote yes when the bill comes to the floor, a White House official said.

BGOV Bill Summary: House Reconciliation Plan Released Nov. 3

Some progressives, who had held up a vote on the infrastructure bill until the larger spending plan was ready for a vote, expressed frustration with the last-minute objections from party moderates.

“I feel like there’s a difference between progressives holding out and us going back to our communities and say we’re doing this for child care, immigration, universal pre K, healthcare extension,” New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said. “It’s a lot harder to go back to a person’s community and say, Hey, I’m doing this for a CBO score.”

Pelosi was able to settle some of the disputes that threatened to stall the economic package Thursday night. She told three potential holdouts, Representatives Adriano Espaillat of New York, Chuy Garcia of Illinois and Lou Correa of California, that she would make protections for immigrants a top priority once the House finishes with Biden’s economic priorities.

Earlier: Key Democrats Soften on Push to Expand Immigration in Biden Bill

The current text of the broad tax and spending bill includes a parole option that would provide work authorization and deportation protections for some undocumented immigrants. But a more expansive measure likely wouldn’t survive in the Senate.

“Speaker Pelosi shares our concerns for the immigrant community, recognizes their contributions and is committed to keeping immigration in play,” Garcia said in a statement.

A last-minute change involved the federal deduction for state and local taxes, or SALT. Instead of moving forward with a proposal to lift the $10,000 SALT cap to $72,500 through 2031, the bill will now raise it to $80,000 through 2030 according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

The cap would snap back to $10,000 in 2031. Compared to current law where there is no cap after 2025, the provision would raise $14.8 billion in revenue over 10 years.

The Senate is expected to make its own changes to the SALT proposal. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Bob Menendez of New Jersey have proposed an unlimited cap but would cut off access to the deduction for people with incomes above $400,000 to $500,000.

Drug Pricing

On drug pricing, Democrats have agreed to give some drugs an extra year of exemption from price negotiations, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Earlier: SALT Cap Gets Another Boost in Latest Talks on Biden Agenda

The change means biologic drugs won’t be subject to government price negotiation until 13 years after they are approved for use, one year longer than in the provision that was initially written into the legislation.

While the House would be giving final passage to the infrastructure legislation, the economic package still faces hurdles -- and changes -- in the Senate. If the legislation is modified there, as expected, it would have to go back to the House for another vote.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said senators would strive to act on the legislation “before Thanksgiving,” which falls on Nov. 25.

‘Various Sticking Points’

But even that schedule may be ambitious. Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who has fought to trim the size of the package, continues to object to provisions favored by the House, such as paid family leave and immigration. He also said he wants a clearer assessment of the impact of the expansive tax and spending package on inflation and debt.

“I have a lot of concerns, let’s put it that way,” Manchin said Wednesday night on Fox News. “They’re working off the House bill. That’s not going to be the bill I work off of.”

Schumer said he spoke to Manchin Thursday and they both agreed to “work diligently” over next week’s Senate break to come up with something that can be supported by all 50 Democrats in the Senate, which will be out next week.

“There are various sticking points,” he added.

--With assistance from Alexander Ruoff, Jennifer Epstein, Ellen M. Gilmer and Emily Wilkins.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net;
Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net;
Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net;
Jarrell Dillard in Washington at jdillard11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Magan Crane

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