Pelosi offers to ‘advance’ budget and infrastructure measures together

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday sought to reach a compromise with nine moderate House Democrats, who have threatened to vote against adopting the budget resolution unless the House first votes on a Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter to House Democrats, Pelosi said she “requested that the Rules Committee explore the possibility of a rule that advances both the budget resolution and the bipartisan infrastructure package.”

A vote to adopt a rule, which sets terms for floor debate, wouldn’t clear the $550 billion infrastructure bill for President Joe Biden’s signature. But it would set up floor consideration of the package later this year.

The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday and approved the budget resolution along party lines on Wednesday. The latter would set up a filibuster-proof $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that would fund key parts of Biden’s social safety net and climate agenda.

Pelosi, D-Calif., followed the Senate’s action by calling the chamber back into session the week of Aug. 23. She has said for months she will not hold a floor vote on the infrastructure bill until the Senate approves the reconciliation package. Her letter Sunday would not change that strategy.