The massive spending package Democrats were hoping to get rammed through Congress is about to go into the shredder.
Democrats are still going to try to pass a big package, but it looks like it will be far less than the $3.5 trillion they had hoped to pass.
On Monday, Pelosi penned a letter to her fellow Democrats saying the new plan would do “fewer things well.”
Pelosi Gives In
To be clear, any bill passed via reconciliation should be fought tooth and nail by Republicans.
The smaller $1.2 trillion bipartisan package only has about half the money going to what we usually consider infrastructure, so half a trillion is more than enough wasteful spending.
The new bill will be pure fluff, but even so, Pelosi is going in a different direction than the progressives in her party had hoped.
Last week, AOC’s Squad members hinted they would take less if it meant they could spread out the money for a shorter period.
At the time, I had stated that I believed their thought process was that they could get refunding much easier once they got the initial programs up and running.
Pelosi is going a different route, however.
It now appears they are chopping out some programs to ensure long-term funding of the programs they can fund through the reconciliation package.
In her letter, Pelosi stated, “In order to pass both the Build Back Better Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill on time, it is essential that difficult decisions must be made very soon.
“Overwhelmingly, the guidance I am receiving from Members is to do fewer things well so that we can still have a transformative impact on families in the workplace and responsibly address the climate crisis: a Build Back Better agenda for jobs and the planet For The Children!”
The problem for Pelosi now is that if both the moderates and progressives do not go for the new plan, it will never pass.
Even if they manage to get this through the Senate, which is still not a gimme, as Senator Sinema (D-AZ) is now the lone holdout, she cannot afford either of the two smaller factions from the Democrat Party in the House to walk away.
If either of them fails to back this new spending package, the entire bill goes up in flames.
Source: Daily Caller
