House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top lieutenants said they will press ahead with votes next week to advance the Senate’s $3.5 trillion budget blueprint, calling the bluff of a group of moderate Democrats who are demanding the House first pass a separate bipartisan infrastructure package.

Hours later, a leader of that moderate group, Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, signaled he may be open to striking a deal.

“I’m confident we can sit down together and work this out,” he said in a statement, while adding that voters don’t want to wait for months for the infrastructure spending to start having an impact.

During a private call with House Democrats earlier Tuesday, Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer laid out a schedule for votes on Monday and Tuesday to move ahead on the budget resolution and the $550 billion infrastructure bill -- which are central to President Joe Biden’s economic agenda -- as well as a voting rights measure, according to officials on the call.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...on-budget-plan