Progressive Caucus chair wants Senate to vote on reconciliation before House votes on infrastructure

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters prior to a meeting of House Democrats Friday that she still would prefer a Senate vote on a reconciliation bill before the House votes on the bipartisan infrastructure measure.

Democratic leaders and the White House have been holding discussions with two key Senate centrists, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), in an effort to agree on a framework for the reconciliation bill.

But Jayapal signaled that an agreement on a reconciliation framework might not be enough for her to want to vote for the infrastructure bill.

“I have consistently said that we need a vote in the Senate, because I want to make sure that there are no delays, that there are no mix-ups, that there are no mixed understandings about what the deal is,” Jayapal said. “I am open to hearing what other options there are for that, but I am very concerned about legislative language holding things up, vote-a-rama changing the deal, and those are the things that have to be addressed, along with the content. So it’s both content and process.”

Her comments come as House Democrats scramble Friday to break a weeks-long stalemate on the bipartisan infrastructure package — a debate that’s exposed fierce rifts between moderates and progressives that are threatening to tank President Biden‘s ambitious domestic agenda.

Moderates are demanding a vote on the infrastructure bill but progressives worry doing so will cost them the leverage they need to pass the larger reconciliation bill that contains many of their priorities.