House progressives won't vote for infrastructure bill without reconcilation and...

Sinema tells House Dems she won't vote for reconciliation until Pelosi passes the bipartisan infrastructure bill

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a key moderate, told fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives this week that she will not vote for a multitrillion-dollar package that is a top priority for President Joe Biden before Congress approves a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, according to a source briefed on the meeting. In an online meeting, Sinema and fellow Senate moderate Joe Manchin said they would not abide by any deadlines adopted by leadership to force votes on the package.

House progressives have insisted from the start that they won’t vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill that’s already passed the Senate until the Senate gives them *something* on reconciliation. Some lefties like Ro Khanna are willing to accept an agreed-to “framework” in lieu of the Senate passing a reconciliation bill. Others, like Pramila Jayapal, are sticking to their position that nothing short of a bill will lead them to act. Sinema’s warning to Biden was big news because it created a Catch-22. If she won’t move on reconciliation until the House progs pass the bipartisan bill and if House progs won’t pass the bipartisan bill until she moves on reconciliation, well, then Dems have an obvious problem.

Well I still think this will eventually resolve itself when the House progressives and the "squad" decide that it's time to get down on their collective knees and kiss some Manchin and Sinema ass. They won't like the taste of it, but at the end of the day they need something to pass or their fate as a Party in 2022 is doomed even more than it likely is even now.

There just seems to be little incentive for Manchin (who simply doesn't believe in the 3.5 trillion) or Sinema (who is likely galvanizing her opposition to spite protesters) to cave in. After all, they have done their part in voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. That bill sits in the House, waiting for Pelosi to bring it to a vote.

The bigger problem for the Democrats is that the President took the side of the progressives when he decided to get up from his nap and help out. In some sort of half awake stupor he decided not to push for the infrastructure vote, in spite of Pelosi and gang assuming that was what he was there to do. But it is likely that Biden just listened to the last person he talked to and now finds himself cornered into supporting the progressives over the moderates. If the progressive cave, that will make him look even more impotent than he already does.