DREAM Act Portal Forum - View Single Post - The Senate’s infrastructure gamble, explained

Swim19 · 07-21-2021, 05:33 PM

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Senate Democrats are navigating a tricky balancing act: attempting to simultaneously advance both a $600 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion budget resolution full of Democratic priorities that’s only expected to garner partisan support.

This plan, which has colloquially been referred to as the “two-track strategy,” is intended to demonstrate that lawmakers can actually work across party lines to get something done on “hard” infrastructure, like roads and airports, and that Democrats can also deliver on “human” infrastructure that’s a party priority but that Republicans won’t support, like funding for long-term caregiving and paid leave.

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Democrats from the get-go could have simply passed one bill including their key provisions via budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority. But they’d need all 50 members of the caucus, and moderates like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) have said they wouldn’t consider that approach without an attempt to do a bipartisan measure first.

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The next two weeks will be telling for the two-track strategy: So far, there are no guarantees on either track. On Wednesday, the bipartisan bill failed to get the 60 votes it needed to make it through a procedural vote, because the text for the legislation isn’t done yet and Republicans have said they won’t vote on opening debate until it is. Schumer, meanwhile, has emphasized that on other bills like the Innovation and Competition Act, and the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, Congress has voted to proceed to debate even without the full text.

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The partisan track is uncertain, too: Senate Democrats have yet to announce an agreement on the budget resolution outline, though Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told reporters on Wednesday that he felt they’d meet Schumer’s deadline to do so before the end of the day.

Things could still work out in both cases, but it depends a lot on what happens in the next week.

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If the budget resolution gets through the Senate, House moderates could still be a source of opposition, too. Democrats can only afford to lose four votes and still have the resolution pass, and several key moderates have not yet made their opinion known on the size and scope of the budget bill, per the New York Times. But watering down the bill could, in turn, push away progressives.

On the Senate side, Democrats similarly need to keep the entire caucus together. So far, signs are hopeful: Manchin is expected to support the budget bill so long as it is paid for and he approves of the energy and climate provisions, according to the Hill, though that could change.

https://www.vox.com/2021/7/21/225759...-explained-bif