Nancy Pelosi‘s proposal to moderates would fast-track passage of the budget resolution that unlocks a massive social spending plan.
'Mutually assured destruction': Pelosi and centrists drag budget standoff into wee hours
The speaker proposed a deal to Rep. Josh Gottheimer, hoping to end the centrist rebellion over the budget resolution.
By HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS and NICHOLAS WU
08/23/2021 10:35 AM EDT
Updated: 08/24/2021 12:59 AM EDT
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent House members home after midnight Tuesday following a stalemate over Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget framework that fell short of an agreement after hours of negotiations with Rep. Josh Gottheimer and other centrist holdouts.
Pelosi and Gottheimer (D-N.J.), the de facto leader of the moderate opposition to Pelosi's strategy, had been edging toward a deal that would commit to House passage of a bipartisan Senate-passed infrastructure bill by Oct. 1. But at least five centrists in Gottheimer's group still resisted the plan by early Tuesday morning, leaving Pelosi to gauge her team's appetite for a potential floor fight on President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.
Pelosi and fellow leaders are expected to resume negotiations Tuesday morning, with the Democratic caucus set to meet privately at 9 a.m. The House Rules Committee, which tees up the budget vote, is likely to meet shortly after.
Top Democrats still plan to vote on both the party’s budget blueprint — which has been the source of strife in the caucus’s centrist wing — and a critical voting rights package before lawmakers are slated to depart Washington on Tuesday evening.
