Schumer, Pelosi meeting with White House on infrastructure
By Jordain Carney - 06/22/21 03:15 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will meet with White House officials on Wednesday to talk about the path forward on infrastructure.
Schumer told Senate Democrats during their closed-door caucus lunch on Tuesday that he and Pelosi will meet with the officials to discuss both a budget resolution that could pave the way for moving a bill through the Senate with just Democratic votes, and bipartisan talks, a Senate Democratic source told The Hill.
The meeting comes as Democratic leadership is trying to balance the bipartisan talks with a growing push from many within the caucus to cut the cord and move forward on their own with a larger package that could be passed under budgetary rules and avoid a filibuster.
The talks are linked because some centrist Democrats prefer a bipartisan package, and it's not clear all of those centrists would back a larger budget package. Democrats can't afford a single defection in the Senate from their party if such a package is to get to President Biden's desk without GOP support.
The White House is ramping up its outreach as the bipartisan talks reach a make-or-break moment.
White House officials are meeting with the bipartisan group on Tuesday at the Capitol and Biden spoke with both centrist Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Monday.
The bipartisan group unveiled a framework that would include spending roughly $1.2 trillion over eight years.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/559655-schumer-pelosi-meeting-with-white-house-on-infrastructure
