Nancy Pelosi Accused of Betrayal as Frustrated Democratic Moderates Lash Out
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Moderate Democrats lashed out at Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday after President Joe Biden made clear that the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill won't pass unless Democrats reach a deal on the $3.5 trillion spending bill.
Pelosi promised moderates that she'd bring the infrastructure bill to the House floor for a vote on September 27, before extending the deadline to September 30. Pelosi delayed the vote again after progressives threatened to sink the bill unless the larger spending bill is passed in tandem.
"While I have great respect for the Speaker, I believe her decision to again delay a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill is wrong," Representative Stephanie Murphy said in a statement.
"This promise was enshrined in a House resolution that every Democrat supported," the Florida Democrat added. "This written commitment was the only reason there were enough votes in the House to even start the reconciliation process—that is, to begin the process of writing the Build Back Better Act."
Representative Josh Gottheimer, another moderate from New Jersey, accused Pelosi of breaching "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."
"We cannot let this small faction on the far left ... 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," he wrote in a statement.
Both Gottheimer and Murphy are members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a 19-member caucus in the House comprising of Democrats who identify as centrists or conservatives.
Senator Krysten Sinema, one of the two key moderate holdouts, accused Pelosi of "betraying" the trust of the American people by backtracking on her promise.
"Over the course of this year, Democratic leaders have made conflicting promises that could not all be kept," the Arizona Democrat wrote in a statement. "Canceling the infrastructure vote further erodes that trust. More importantly, it betrays the trust the American people have placed in their elected leaders."
The infrastructure vote was delayed amid a standoff between moderates and progressives in the party over the size and scope of the spending bill, a crucial part of Biden's domestic agenda known as the Build Back Better Act.
Moderates want the infrastructure bill to be passed immediately, but progressives will only support it if the larger package is passed in tandem.
Biden and Pelosi sided with progressives after a closed-door meeting on Friday, with both saying that infrastructure will pass once Democrats reach a deal on the larger bill.
"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," the president said.
Pelosi added, "Clearly, the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill will pass once we have agreement on the reconciliation bill."
Newsweek reached out to Pelosi representatives for comment.
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The assertion is being put forward that the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill won't pass without an agreement among Democrats on the much larger $3.5 trillion package. But is that assertion really true?
Is there no Republican support for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill? Pelosi can't work to obtain enough bipartisan support to pass the infrastructure bill? The infrastructure bill has already passed in the Senate so the only hold up on the bill is in the House.
Why don't Republicans push Kevin McCarthy in front of a microphone to announce Republican support for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and demand the bill be allowed a vote? Why aren't Republicans putting more pressure on Nancy Pelosi? Seems like that would be a way for Republicans to kill the larger $3.5 trillion package.
As this drags on, Democrats will eventually find some way to cheat their $3.5 trillion package into law. It's obvious Democrats aren't going to give up without being pushed. Cheating the $3.5 trillion package into law is going to be hailed as a great accomplishment of the same stature as FDR's New Deal. Republicans are going to be frozen out. Why aren't Republicans in the game? Everyone knows how this will play out while Republicans sit in the bleachers. If Republicans think they can sit on their thumbs and MAGA will just go away, they may be in for the biggest surprise of their lives.