Two big votes on debt ceiling and infrastructure bills highlight a busy week in Washington.

FILE PHOTO: An American flag flies outside of the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

Ben Burke Producer

Politics

Vote on debt ceiling fails, infrastructure vote expected this week

Sep 27, 2021

Ben Burke Producer

By Ben Burke (Producer)

Votes on two different bills are expected to highlight this week in Washington. Those votes are on the the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, as well as a bill that would suspend the federal debt ceiling and avoid a looming government shutdown.

“Let me just say, it’s an eventful week,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Sunday.

The debt ceiling vote failed in the Senate Monday night. The video above shows some of the debate before the bill.

It was considered a test vote after the House passed a bill to suspend the debt ceiling last week. Lawmakers now have to try again before the shutdown deadline Thursday.

Thursday is also the new expected date for a vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. It was supposed to happen Monday, but it has been delayed so lawmakers could continue to negotiate.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who led a group of moderates in getting the bill to a House vote, said over the weekend he wouldn’t be bothered by a slight delay.

The votes on these two bill are expected to come as President Joe Biden, Rep. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are deep into negotiations over the president’s broader $3.5 trillion proposal. Centrist and progressive factions within the Democratic Party are still split on the final price tag, as well as whether to prioritize the larger or smaller package.

Two Democratic holdouts, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have said they won’t support $3.5 trillion package. Manchin has previously indicated he would support something in the range of $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.

Asked Sunday if she agrees the final number on the larger package wiill will be “somewhat smaller” than $3.5 trillion, Pelosi responded: “That seems self-evident.”

“We’ll see how the number comes down and what we need,” she said. “I think even those who want a smaller number, support the vision of the president, and this is really transformative.”

Meanwhile, progressives say they have already compromised enough on Biden’s big bill, having come down from the $6 trillion they had originally sought out.

Tags: Joe Biden

Sen. Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader: “The consequences of a default would be, in the words of Secretary Yellen, catastrophic. The best case scenario. Is the best case under this awful situation is that our country would fall into another recession, potentially erasing all the progress we have made to pull ourselves out of the COVID crisis. That is, if we’re lucky. Otherwise, one analysis warned that default could hurt Americans for generations, for generations.”

“The only reason we are here, the only reason this is even a possibility, is because Republicans are making this a possibility. By preventing the government from paying its bills, its unhinge its an unhinged position to take; one that not long ago only the most radical elements of the Republican Party would have embraced. There is no scenario in God’s green earth where it should be worth risking millions of jobs, trillions in household wealth, people’s Social Security checks, veterans benefits and another recession just to score short term, meaningless political points. That’s what Republicans seem fixated on doing.”

Sen. Mitch McConnnell, Minority Leader: “As we speak, Democrats are behind closed doors, assembling a multitrillion dollar reckless taxing and spending spree. There’s no chance Republicans will help lift Democrats credit limit, so they can immediately steamroll through a socialist binge that will hurt families and help China. There’s no particular tradition that the minority will always vote for debt limit hikes during united government. When Republicans had unified control in the early 2000s, then Senators Biden and Schumer voted no on a debt limit increase and made the party in power, had it on their own. Exactly the situation we’re in now. The roles were reversed.”

“Democrats want to use those temporary pandemic as a Trojan horse for permanent socialism. They’ve all but said so, and that is what millions and millions of Americans elected 50 Republican senators to fight against.”