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      Pelosi shifts infrastructure bill deadline to 31 October amid Biden frustration

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      US domestic policyPelosi shifts infrastructure bill deadline to 31 October amid Biden frustrationSpeaker writes to House Democrats insisting that they will pass both bipartisan bill and wider social and environmental package Lauren ArataniSat 2 Oct 2021 15.11 EDTLast modified on Sat 2 Oct 2021 15.12 EDTThe House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has set a new deadline for the House to pass a major infrastructure spending bill after a week of negotiations left Joe Biden’s social and environmental policy overhaul plan in a limbo.In a letter to House Democrats on Saturday, Pelosi said that the House will have until Sunday 31 October to pass the $1tn bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August.‘We’re going to get it done’: Biden vows to break impasse after Capitol Hill talksRead moreProgressive Democrats in the House refused to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, despite pressure from their moderate counterparts, as leverage in negotiations over a separate bill that contains massive spending on many of Biden’s campaign promises, including increased access to childcare and action on climate change.“More time was needed to reach our goal of passing both bills, which we will,” Pelosi said in the letter.Biden and progressive Democrats have advocated an overhaul plan costing $3.5tn, but centrist Democrats have refused to agree to that cost. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a key centrist in negotiations, proposed a package of $1.5tn, a significant cut to Biden’s original plan.Refusing to agree on a price that low, progressive Democrats in turn declared on Friday that they would stall a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill until an agreement is reached on the overhaul plan.“We made all these promises to voters across the country that we were going to deliver on this agenda. It’s not some crazy leftwing wishlist,” Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a key House negotiator, told the Seattle Times on Friday.Centrist House Democrats indicated they were frustrated with the delayed vote on the infrastructure bill, with Josh Gottheimer, a leading centrist in the House, blasting Pelosi and progressive Democrats for stalling a vote on the infrastructure bill.“We cannot let this small faction on the far left … destroy the president’s agenda and stop the creation of 2 million jobs a year,” Gottheimer said in a statement.Talking to reporters on Saturday morning before he boarded a flight to his home in Delaware, where he is staying for the weekend, Biden said he was going to “work like hell” on selling his plan directly to the American people over the next month, educating Americans on what he has in mind for the plan.“I’m going to try to sell what I think the American people will buy,” he told reporters. “I believe that when the American people are aware of what’s in it, we’ll get it done.”Reflecting on the simmering angering between progressives and centrists in his party, Biden said: “Everybody’s frustrated. It’s a part of being in government, being frustrated.”In a rare visit to Congress, Biden told House Democrats in a private meeting on Friday that he is determined to get both bills passed, even if it means a smaller price tag for his government overhaul bill. Biden reportedly said that a compromise top line could be between $1.9tn and $2.3tn.“Even a smaller bill can make historic investments – historic investments in childcare, daycare, clean energy,” Biden told House Democrats, according to a person familiar with his remarks.In addition to negotiations over the overhaul bill, Democrats in Congress are trying to figure out a way to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the US defaulting for the first time in history. Republicans have indicated they will not vote in support of raising the debt ceiling.On Saturday, Biden told reporters that he hopes Republicans will not “be so irresponsible as to refuse to raise the debt limit”.“That would be totally unconscionable. Never been done before. And so I hope that won’t happen,” he said. TopicsUS domestic policyUS CongressUS politicsNancy PelosiHouse of RepresentativesJoe BidenDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      ‘We’re going to get it done’: Biden vows to break impasse after Capitol Hill talks

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      Joe Biden‘We’re going to get it done’: Biden vows to break impasse after Capitol Hill talks President meets Democrats with domestic agenda in jeopardyHopes of truce dashed after moderate condemns Pelosi’s tactics David Smith and Lauren Gambino in WashingtonFri 1 Oct 2021 20.03 EDTLast modified on Fri 1 Oct 2021 23.30 EDTJoe Biden has made a rare visit to Capitol Hill to meet privately with House Democrats amid a stalemate that has put his sprawling domestic agenda in jeopardy.Pledging to “get it done” after days of frantic negotiations that saw the party fail to strike an internal deal on a scaled-back version of Biden’s $3.5tn social and environmental policy overhaul, the president hoped to break an impasse even as hopes of compromise before the weekend faded.Far-right militia group membership surged after Capitol attack, hack showsRead more“It doesn’t matter when – it doesn’t matter whether it’s in six minutes, six days, or six weeks – we’re going to get it done,” Biden said, as he exited the caucus room.The visit comes a day after after the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, delayed a vote on part of his economic agenda, a bipartisan $1tn public works measure, in an embarrassing setback. Democrats returned to the Capitol on Friday deeply divided but determined to make progress on Biden’s ambitious economic vision.Pelosi had earlier promised that there would a “vote today” on the infrastructure measure, which progressive House lawmakers have maintained they would not support unless it is passed in tandem with the far more expansive $3.5tn package.But hopes that Biden had forged a truce among Democrats were dashed on Friday night when Josh Gottheimer, a leading moderate in the House, publicly condemned Pelosi for delaying the infrastructure vote.“It’s deeply regrettable that Speaker Pelosi breached her firm, public commitment to Members of Congress and the American people to hold a vote and to pass the once-in-a-century bipartisan infrastructure bill on or before September 27,” the congressman from New Jersey said in a statement.Gottheimer added: “We cannot let this small faction on the far left — who employ Freedom Caucus tactics, as described by the New York Times today — destroy the President’s agenda and stop the creation of two million jobs a year — including for the millions of hard-working men and women of labor.”The language appeared deliberately inflammatory. The reference to a “small faction on the far left” was sure to infuriate progressives who claim to have the White House and the vast majority of the Democratic caucus on their side. The Freedom Caucus is a group of conservative Republicans intent on pushing party leadership to the right.Gottheimer said: “This far left faction is willing to put the President’s entire agenda, including this historic bipartisan infrastructure package, at risk. They’ve put civility and bipartisan governing at risk.”In a further sign of internal tensions, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney of New York issued a sharp response to Gottheimer’s assertions, tweeting that Biden had stood with Pelosi and 95% of House Democrats “and said the opposite: that his historic vision for America first requires a Build Back Better reconciliation deal. That’s the way a bipartisan infrastructure bill will win the votes to become law.”Pelosi confirmed there would be no infrastructure vote as more time was needed to negotiate.“While great progress has been made in the negotiations to develop a House, Senate and White House agreement on the Build Back Better Act, more time is needed to complete the task,” the House speaker said in a statement.Democrats remained deeply at odds over the scale and structure of the more expansive package which contains a host of progressive priorities, provisions to expand health care access, establish paid leave, combat climate change and reduce poverty – all underwritten by tax increases on wealthy Americans and corporations.Democrats are trying to score a major legislative victory with razor-thin majorities in both chambers. Failure would deny Biden much of his domestic agenda, leaving the party with little to show for their time controlling the White House, the Senate and House.Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has proposed a spending package of about $1.5tn – less than half the size of the proposal put forward by the president and Democratic leaders. Another Democratic centrist, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, declined to say whether she agreed with Manchin’s proposal.In the private meeting with House lawmakers, Biden reportedly discussed a compromise topline of $1.9tn to $2.3tn, according to a person in the room who spoke with the Associated Press.Congresswoman Madeleine Dean told MSNBC that Biden was “pragmatic” and “realistic” in the closed-door meeting with lawmakers. “He said, ‘Look, clearly I have to be straight up with you. It is not going to be the $3.5tn number that we would all like, or many many of us would like … What I ask of you are the programmatic things that must be in the bill, and then we can do the math from there’,” Dean said.Huddled together in an hours-long caucus meeting, Pelosi tried to steer the feuding factions within her party toward common ground after Thursday’s marathon negotiating session generated deepening acrimony and no deal.Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emerged from the morning gathering optimistic that Democrats would eventually pass both bills. But she remained firm in her position – and confident in her members – that there the infrastructure bill would not move forward without assurances that the Senate would pass Biden’s larger bill.“We’ve seen more progress in the last 48 hours than we’ve seen in a long time on reconciliation,” she said, crediting progressives’ infrastructure revolt for forcing Manchin and Sinema to the negotiating table.The decision to postpone the infrastructure vote was seen as a victory for progressives who were unwavering in their resolve to “hold the line” and vote against the bill unless they received “ironclad” commitments that Biden’s proposed $3.5tn social and environmental package would also pass.Many progressives also say they will withhold support for the infrastructure bill until the Senate passes the second piece of Biden’s economic agenda, legislation that has yet to be written. Jayapal made clear this was her preference, but later left the door open to the possibility that the party could reach an agreement without a vote.“If there’s something else that’s short of a vote … that gives me those same assurances, I want to listen to that,” she told reporters.Why is Trump still making headlines? Politics Weekly Extra podcastRead moreThe stalemate also laid bare deep ideological fractures within the party. Unlike the debate over Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation a decade ago, progressives appear to be more closely aligned with the president and able to flex their political muscles. On Thursday they were united in making the case that centrists are now in the minority.Both pieces of legislation are critical to Biden’s economic vision. While he has staked his domestic agenda – and his legacy – on a $3.5tn social policy package, he invested precious political capital in courting Republicans to support the infrastructure bill, part of a campaign promise to usher in a new era of bipartisanship in Congress. The bill passed the Senate in August, with 19 Republican votes and great fanfare.But the spirit of bipartisanship dissipated quickly. In the House, Republican leaders lobbied members to vote against the bipartisan bill, forcing Democrats to come up with the votes on their own. Republicans are unified in opposition to the president’s broader spending-and-tax plan.The House is scheduled to leave Washington at the end of this week for a two-week recess but this could be delayed if no deal has been reached. Congress must also find a way to raise the debt ceiling to avoid the US defaulting for the first time in its history.TopicsJoe BidenUS politicsUS domestic policyDemocratsUS CongressUS SenateRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Pelosi delays vote on Biden’s infrastructure bill | First Thing

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      First ThingUS newsFirst Thing: Pelosi delays vote on Biden’s infrastructure bill Centrists and progressives remain at odds over social spending. Plus Daniel Craig on Bond, fried eggs, and regrets

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      Clea SkopelitiFri 1 Oct 2021 06.26 EDTLast modified on Fri 1 Oct 2021 06.45 EDTGood morning.Democrats will return to the negotiating table on Friday morning after reaching an impasse over Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, with Nancy Pelosi delaying a planned vote, as legislative and fiscal deadlines loom.On the line is a $3.5tn plan to expand the social safety net, as well as a $1tn public works measure. Centrists in the party have pushed for the former to be pared down, with Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona arguing the agenda’s cost is too high.Meanwhile, the progressive wing of the party has said it will sink the infrastructure vote if there is not an agreement on the broader package, with the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal, saying she wanted to see the Senate approve the proposal first before supporting the smaller bill.
      What’s in the social spending plan? The $3.5tn proposal would extend the child tax credit, establish universal pre-K education, and create a federally paid family and medical leave system. It would also establish a number of programs to fight the climate crisis and propel the country toward renewable energy.
      Why are moderates holding out? Manchin, who is a major recipient of donations from the fossil fuel industry, has described the $3.5tn package as “fiscal insanity” and said he would not support a package that cost more than $1.5tn. He said a budget any bigger risks “changing our whole society to an entitlement mentality”.
      Over half of US police killings are mislabelled or unreportedMore than half of all killings by US police go unreported, with the Black victims making up a majority, a sweeping new study has found.Between 1980 and 2018, more than 55% of deaths from police violence were either misclassified or went unreported, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found, with Black Americans 3.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans.
      Is there racial disparity? Yes. Almost 60% of all fatal police encounters involving Black Americans were misclassified, while the government’s database missed about half of police-involved deaths of Hispanic people, 56% of police-involved deaths of non-Hispanic white people, and a third of deaths involving non-Hispanic people across other races.
      How did researchers reach these figures? They compared data from the US National Vital Statistics System (NVSS), a government database for tracking the US population, with non-governmental, open-source databases that monitor police violence.
      Apple, Amazon and Disney back groups against US climate billAs Democrats struggle to get a historic social spending proposal over the line, analysis has found that Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Disney are among the companies supporting business groups fighting the landmark climate legislation.The support of prominent businesses, who would see their taxes raised in order to fund the plan, flies in the face of their pledges to combat the climate crisis. Amazon has promised to cut emissions to net zero by 2040, while Microsoft has committed to being “carbon negative” within a decade.
      What would the climate plan do? It would establish a system to phase out emissions from the US electricity system, provide payments to prop up carbon-free nuclear energy and support the adoption of electric vehicles.
      How important is the proposed bill? It is the first significant attempt at climate legislation in more than a decade; it it fails, it is likely to stall efforts to push other countries into meaningful action at November’s UN climate talks.
      In other news …
      Tens of thousands of workers could strike in the coming weeks across America, in industries ranging from healthcare to Hollywood and academia, as they call for higher wages and better working conditions.
      A hospital in the western New York city of Buffalo has recorded its highest single-day patient count ever, after staff shortages triggered by the state’s vaccine mandate resulted in units closing and the inability to discharge patients.
      Human rights lawyers and experts have called on the UK to ban so-called conversion therapy, following a government pledge to do so three years ago.
      Stat of the day: 80 women were killed between Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa’s deathsEighty women were killed in the UK between the deaths of Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a police officer in March, and the murder of schoolteacher Sabina Nessa on 17 September, according to the Counting Dead Women project. Meanwhile, data from the Femicide Census shows at least 15 serving or former police officers have killed women since 2009.Don’t miss this: Daniel Craig on Bond, fried eggs, and regretsFive movies later, Daniel Craig is about to finally be free from the “bonds of Bond”. But not before he answers a series of questions set by friends, actors and Guardian readers, which range from which role he wishes he hadn’t played to whether he ever allows himself a fried breakfast. “I eat greasy fried eggs at least once a week,” the 53-year-old says.Last Thing: ‘I fell down a hidden well’When 67-year-old Chris Town offered to help a friend move into her new home, he ended up getting more than he bargained for. While helping to erect a bed frame, Town accidentally stepped on a patch of weak floorboards, falling through 15ft into a well. Recalling his father’s advice to avoid panicking, he managed to tread water until the emergency services arrived.Sign upSign up for the US morning briefingFirst Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.Get in TouchIf you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.comSign up to Inside Saturday to get an exclusive behind the scenes look at the top features from our new magazine delivered to your inbox every weekendTopicsUS newsFirst ThingUS politicsNancy PelosiJoe BidenJames BondnewsReuse this content More

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      Fears of US government shutdown as debt ceiling game of chicken begins

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      US politicsFears of US government shutdown as debt ceiling game of chicken beginsIf neither side budges, US risks default on debt and lowered credit rating, which would cost billions Hugo Lowellin WashingtonSun 19 Sep 2021 04.00 EDTTop Democrats are expected to dare Republicans to block a stopgap funding measure, which would trigger the double-barreled fiscal crisis of the US defaulting on its mammoth debt and a shutdown of the federal government, according to two sources familiar with the proposal.The plan being considered by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, involves suspending the debt ceiling past the 2022 midterm elections in a stopgap bill that would keep the government funded through early December, the sources said.Democrats want to then dare Republicans to block the stopgap funding measure with a filibuster and prevent it from receiving 60 votes needed to pass the Senate – which could cause a government shutdown on 1 October and leave the US unable to pay its bills.The US has almost always avoided defaults and the sources said they expected some resolution on this occasion, too, even if negotiations, like in years past, continued until the 11th hour.But economists say a failure to raise or suspend the debt limit when tied to the stopgap funding measure would be particularly catastrophic as the US would be unable to service its debt obligations in the midst of a potentially non-functional federal government.Resolving the impasse – which typically becomes a political football under a Democratic president as Republicans criticize their spending – now requires one party to blink.The strategy to tie the potentially catastrophic prospect of the US defaulting on its $28tn of debt with a government shutdown could put Republicans in a difficult position after their repeated refusal to raise the debt limit in a bipartisan fashion.It also underscores the extent of the dysfunction of Congress, as Republicans decline to back measures from voting rights legislation to police reform to a 9/11-style commission to investigate the deadly 6 January attack on the Capitol.The high-stakes showdown over the debt ceiling is accelerating after the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said recently the US could default in mid-October and cause “irreparable harm” to the economy if Congress failed to take action.In a letter to Pelosi, Yellen said the extraordinary measures the treasury department had been employing to finance the government on a temporary basis after the nation’s debt hit its statutory limit on 1 August would be exhausted next month.“Once all available measures and cash on hand are fully exhausted, the United States of America would be unable to meet its obligations for the first time in our history,” Yellen wrote.That meltdown could affect the US credit rating, which raises the specter of increased treasury interest rates, which could cost the government billions and lead to higher borrowing costs for American businesses, since their rates are benchmarked to treasury rates.Democrats have insisted for months that Republicans join them in taking action on the debt ceiling, arguing that it was mainly because of Republicans that the national debt increased by roughly $8tn over the course of the Trump administration.Pelosi added in a recent news conference that the need to suspend the debt ceiling stemmed in part from Republican tax cuts to the wealthy. “We’re paying the credit card, the Trump credit card,” Pelosi said.But the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, has remained adamant that Republicans will not support Democrats in raising the debt ceiling as part of a standalone bill, and that it should instead be included in a sprawling infrastructure package that can be passed on a party-line vote.“Let’s be clear,” McConnell said in a tweet on Wednesday. “With a Democratic president, a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, Democrats have every tool they need to raise the debt limit. It is their sole responsibility.”Both Pelosi and Schumer have also noted that Democrats joined Republicans to handle the debt limit when Trump was president and believe the Republicans should now return the favor – rather than leave vulnerable Democrats open to attack ads if the ceiling is raised on a party-line vote.In pressing the point, Pelosi said that Democrats would not include a provision to raise the debt ceiling in the $3.5tn budget resolution for Biden’s infrastructure agenda that they intend to pass with the reconciliation process, to avoid a filibuster.Instead, top Democrats are moving forward with a plan to add such language in the stopgap funding measure that would keep the government funded through either 3 December or 10 December, the sources said, and hope to persuade 10 Senate Republicans to support the bill.The inclusion of the debt limit in the stopgap measure is not final, the sources cautioned, and discussions will continue as the House returns from a summer recess. It could still be added to a disaster relief bill, for instance, or be tackled in a standalone bill.Part of the worry for top Democrats is that the path to 60 votes in the Senate was significantly narrowed last month after the majority of the Senate Republican conference signed on to a letter vowing to block any bill that attempted to raise the debt ceiling.Only four Senate Republicans – the Senate appropriations committee chairman, Richard Shelby, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and John Kennedy – declined to sign the letter, a number far short of the threshold required to defeat an expected filibuster.TopicsUS politicsDemocratsNancy PelosinewsReuse this content More