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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh (now) and Joan E Greve (earlier)

Manchin says he ‘can’t support’ $3.5tn reconciliation package - as it happened

Senator Joe Manchin is pursued by reporters as he walks back to his office from the US Capitol.
Senator Joe Manchin is one of two Senate Democrats standing in the way of a $3.5tn reconciliation package. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Politics recap

  • Democrats remain at an impasse over the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package. House progressives are threatening to vote against the infrastructure bill unless the reconciliation package moves forward simultaneously. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to bring the infrastructure bill up for a vote tomorrow, which almost certainly does not leave enough time to reach a deal on the reconciliation package. Meanwhile, Joe Manchin, who has become one of two Senate Democrats standing in the way of a $3.5tn reconciliation package – released a statement that he’s not willing to approve more spending on social programs.
  • Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he does not want to use reconciliation to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. Senate Republicans remain adamantly against raising the debt ceiling, so unless Democrats use reconciliation, the country could be facing a potential default next month. But Schumer argued that there is too little time to go through the process of reconciliation, which would not require any Republican support to address the debt ceiling.
  • Pelosi said the House will vote today to suspend the debt ceiling, even as some moderate Democrats have expressed criticism of the proposal. “The full faith and credit of the United States should not be questioned,” Pelosi said in a “Dear Colleague” letter, warning of the potential disastrous fallout if the debt ceiling is not addressed.
  • Schumer said the Senate will take action on a government spending bill “as early as today”. Congress needs to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown, which is set to go into effect on Friday unless funding is extended.
  • Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney applauded Gen Mark Milley’s actions after the Capitol insurrection on 6 January. Some Republicans have called for the resignation of Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, over his actions during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, when he sought to assure Chinese officials that the US would not launch a strike against their country. “I want to thank you for standing in the breach, when so many, including many in this room, fail to do so,” Cheney said at a House committee hearing.
  • The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack issued new subpoenas to 11 people involved with the rally preceding the 6 January riot. The individuals were connected to the Trump-supporting organization Women for America First, including co-founders, Amy Kremer and her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer.

Updated

Capitol attack committee issues fresh subpoenas over pre-riot Trump rally

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Wednesday issued a second tranche of subpoenas to individuals connected to the rally immediately preceding the 6 January riot, where Donald Trump incited his supporters to commit insurrection.

The new subpoenas for people involved in the march and rally reflects the select committee’s far-reaching mandate to examine whether the attack on the Capitol was planned in advance, according to a source familiar with the matter.

House select committee investigators in total subpoenaed 11 individuals connected to the Trump-supporting organization Women for America First that organized the rally at the Ellipse, including its two co-founders, Amy Kremer and her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer.

“The investigation has revealed credible evidence of your involvement in events within the scope of the select committee’s inquiry,” the chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said in the subpoena letters.

Read more:

Updated

Britney Spears’ father suspended from conservatorship in victory for singer

A Los Angeles judge has granted Britney Spears’ request to have her father suspended from her conservatorship, a major victory for the singer, who has for years objected to the arrangement that has stripped her of her independence.

Judge Brenda Penny ordered Jamie Spears, who has controlled his daughter’s estate and other aspects of her personal life for 13 years, suspended as conservator effective on Wednesday.

“The current situation is not tenable,” Penny said at a courthouse hearing, adding that the current arrangement reflected a “toxic environment”.

A CPA will take over as temporary conservator of the estate. Mathew Rosengart, Britney Spears’ attorney, has called for a hearing for full termination within 30 to 45 days.

The decision comes three months after the pop star first publicly pleaded for her father to be removed, alleging that he had been abusive and saying, “He loved the control to hurt his own daughter.”

Jamie Spears has aggressively fought efforts to be removed and recently requested that the conservatorship be terminated entirely – a move that Britney Spears’ lawyer said was an effort “to avoid accountability and justice”.

A recent documentary also alleged that Jamie Spears had hired a security firm that was secretly surveilling his daughter’s phone, recording her conversations in her bedroom and monitoring fans who protested to end the conservatorship.

The case has sparked international outrage, and state and federal lawmakers are now considering major reforms to the conservatorship system. A large, fan-led #FreeBritney movement first drew public attention to the arrangement, and has recently held huge rallies in support of the pop star.

Conservatorship is a type of court-appointed guardianship intended for people who can no longer make decisions for themselves, typically older and infirm people. But critics have argued that the process can be exploited and have pointed to Spears’ case as an example of such abuse.

Read more:

Asked about the tone of Joe Manchin’s statement on the reconciliation bill, budget committee chair Bernie Sanders told CNN’s Ted Barrett: “Look you can talk to Mr Manchin. I can’t speak for Mr Manchin. I’m not a psychologist.”

Earlier, Sanders told Business Insider, “It’s terribly important before the House votes [on infrastructure] we have a strong reconciliation package that not only addresses the needs of working families but also the existential climate threat.”

Updated

Asked by reporters if the infrastructure vote would still happen tomorrow, despite a lack of agreement on a reconciliation package, House speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “That’s the plan.”

She’s taking negotiations and planning “one hour at a time”, she said.

Pelosi had promised to hold a vote on both the infrastructure bill and reconciliation measures – the $3.5tn Build Back Better bill – at the same time. But she’s gone back on that promise, as it becomes increasingly difficult to reach a deal on the reconciliation bill with moderate Democrats.

Meanwhile, moderates say they can pass the $1tn infrastructure bill with Republicans, even if progressives follow through on their threat to vote it down tomorrow. But Republicans are mulling opposing the measure and forcing Democrats to work through it alone.

Here’s a recap of all the drama:

Updated

As a Democrat representing Republican-leaning West Virginia, Joe Manchin has consistently maintained that his moderate politics prevents him from fully embracing many of the reforms and social spending that make up Biden’s platform.

But in his home state, the Democrats’ $3.5tn reconciliation plan is immensely popular.

Zack Harold reports for the Guardian:

Eizabeth Masters isn’t a natural Joe Biden supporter. A self-described conservative who lives in Parkersburg, in deeply Republican West Virginia, she said she registered to vote in the last election so she could cast a ballot for Donald Trump.

Masters says she doesn’t approve when people “just stand for a handout” – she doesn’t think the United States should be spending money on undocumented immigrants, for example – but says anything that will “help people that are trying to do for themselves, I’m all for it”.

To that end, Masters has found herself supportive of efforts by the Biden administration to pass a $3.5tn budget proposal that is full of ambitious plans to help poorer and working class Americans on a range of social issues from childcare to healthcare.

Though vehemently opposed by Republicans and West Virginia’s own Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, there is some evidence that the proposals contained in the spending plans – which some have likened to the 1930s New Deal – are more popular among grassroots Republicans than their political representatives. That may be especially true in West Virginia, which is a poor, largely white and working class state whose residents would stand to greatly benefit from the Biden effort.

That is why Masters says she supports the Child Tax Credit, the monthly payments from the IRS given to families with children making less than $200,000. The Build Back Better plan would make the credits permanent.

Masters and her husband recently took out a loan to repair the roof on their house, only to lose the home in a fire. They did not have insurance, so they are still paying on the loan. The Child Tax Credit payment she receives each month for her nine-year-old son covers that loan every month.

Biden’s budget bill includes his Build Back Better plan, which would cut taxes for most Americans, raise taxes on the rich, train more workers and lower costs for healthcare, childcare, education and housing.

When the nonpartisan nonprofit WorkMoney surveyed more than 50,000 of its 2 million members nationwide, it found 81% of respondents said they supported this plan. That includes 90% of liberals who took the survey, 81% of moderates and 66% of conservatives.

Conservative backing appears even more robust in West Virginia, home of Manchin, a moderate Democrat who is one of the critical holdouts on the budget bill and whose efforts could derail the entire plan – or see large chunks of it scrapped as he balks at the budget’s price tag.

But according to the survey, 80% of more than 800 people surveyed in his home state believe he should vote to pass the bill. That includes 77% of conservatives who responded to the survey.

Read more:

Joe Manchin, the moderate senator who has become one of two Senate Democrats standing in the way of a $3.5tn reconciliation package – has released a statement outlining his stance that he’s not willing to approve more spending on social programs.

He said:

Respectfully, as I have said for months, I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March. At some point, all of us, regardless of party must ask the simple question – how much is enough?

What I have made clear to the President and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can’t even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity. Suggesting that spending trillions more will not have an impact on inflation ignores the everyday reality that America’s families continue pay an unavoidable inflation tax. Proposing a historic expansion of social programs while ignoring the fact we are not in a recession and that millions of jobs remain open will only feed a dysfunction that could weaken our economic recovery.

Negotiations between Machin, the Kyrsten Sinema, and Democratic leaders, and the White House are still underway, but a deal by tomorrow – when a vote on the infrastructure bill is expected – seems increasingly unlikely.

Updated

The progressive group Our Revolution has urged Democrats to pass the reconciliation package along with the infrastructure bill, warning that failing to do so will cost them the midterms.

House progressives are adamant that they will not support the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package – which contains funding for child care, paid leave, free community college, and programs to combat climate change – is also finalized and passed.

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Democrats remain at an impasse over the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package. House progressives are threatening to vote against the infrastructure bill unless the reconciliation package moves forward simultaneously. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to bring the infrastructure bill up for a vote tomorrow, which almost certainly does not leave enough time to reach a deal on the reconciliation package.
  • Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he does not want to use reconciliation to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. Senate Republicans remain adamantly against raising the debt ceiling, so unless Democrats use reconciliation, the country could be facing a potential default next month. But Schumer argued that there is too little time to go through the process of reconciliation, which would not require any Republican support to address the debt ceiling.
  • Pelosi said the House will vote today to suspend the debt ceiling, even as some moderate Democrats have expressed criticism of the proposal. “The full faith and credit of the United States should not be questioned,” Pelosi said in a “Dear Colleague” letter, warning of the potential disastrous fallout if the debt ceiling is not addressed.
  • Schumer said the Senate will take action on a government spending bill “as early as today”. Congress needs to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown, which is set to go into effect on Friday unless funding is extended.
  • Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney applauded Gen Mark Milley’s actions after the Capitol insurrection on January 6. Some Republicans have called for the resignation of Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, over his actions during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, when he sought to assure Chinese officials that the US would not launch a strike against their country. “I want to thank you for standing in the breach, when so many, including many in this room, fail to do so,” Cheney said at a House committee hearing.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

In some non-shutdown and non-infrastructure news, speculation is mounting over whether Joe Biden will attend the Congressional Baseball Game tonight.

The White House has called a lid until 7 pm, meaning the president will not make any public appearances before then but may do so later in the evening.

Asked this afternoon about whether the president planned to attend the game, Jen Psaki did not rule out the possibility.

The game is an annual tradition for members of Congress, who face off along party lines to help raise money for charities in the Washington area.

Democratic congressman Paul Tonko said he will not support the infrastructure bill until he has a clearer sense about the Senate passing the reconciliation package.

In a new statement, Tonko emphasized the importance of enacting “meaningful, transformative climate legislation that delivers for the people”.

“From the beginning, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was always intended to be passed in tandem with the Build Back Better Act,” Tonko said.

“As such, before we take action on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the House we must have a clear path forward from the Senate on the Build Back Better Act.”

What makes Tonko’s stance rather noteworthy is that he is not a member of the Congressional progressive caucus, whose members had already threatened to oppose the infrastructure bill.

So the frustration within the House Democratic caucus over advancing the infrastructure bill first clearly extends beyond the progressive wing of the party.

Updated

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has now returned to the White House for a meeting, per CNN. House speaker Nancy Pelosi is also expected to join.

The meeting comes as Democrats try to simultaneously advance Joe Biden’s economic agenda, avoid a government shutdown and suspend the debt ceiling to prevent a catastrophic default.

So, yes, Schumer, Pelosi and Biden will have many things to discuss at the White House this afternoon.

Joe Manchin was asked by a PBS reporter whether he believed Democrats could reach an agreement on the framework of the reconciliation package by tomorrow.

And the moderate Democratic senator said no. He considers that to be an impossible deadline.

Meanwhile, House progressives remain adamant that they will not support the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package advances, meaning the infrastructure bill may fail if speaker Nancy Pelosi moves forward with tomorrow’s planned vote.

Jen Psaki was asked to respond to progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling on Joe Biden to demand that both the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package pass at the same time.

“The president is working in lock-step with Speaker Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic caucus, about how to get both of these pieces of legislation forward,” the White House press secretary said.

“We know there’s a range of ideas. We welcome those, but we also trust Speaker Pelosi’s ability to count votes.”

A reporter asked Jen Psaki whether Joe Biden is surprised by Mitch McConnell’s refusal to help raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

The White House press secretary said the president is “disappointed more than surprised” by the Republican leader’s stance.

Psaki also reiterated the grave threat posed by a potential default, warning that it would be devastating for the US economy and American families’ financial outlook.

At her daily briefing, Jen Psaki emphasized that Joe Biden remains committed to passing both the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package.

The White House press secretary acknowledged that Democrats are at a “precarious and important time” in their negotiations, as moderates and progressives remain at odds over whether the bills will advance simultaneously.

Asked whether she believes Democrats can reach an agreement on legislative language for the reconciliation package before tomorrow’s scheduled House vote on the infrastructure bill, Psaki said, “We’ll see.”

Moderate House Democrat Stephanie Murphy warned that delaying the vote on the infrastructure bill, which is supposed to take place tomorrow, could threaten Joe Biden’s entire economic agenda.

Murphy told NBC News, “If the vote were to fail tomorrow or be delayed, there’d be a significant breach in trust that would slow the momentum in moving forward in delivering the Biden agenda.”

So House progressives are threatening to sink the infrastructure bill, and if they do, it seems like moderates are willing to walk away from the reconciliation package.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi will need to bring together the two wings of her caucus to get either bill passed, and the clock is ticking.

Cheney commends Milley for 'standing in the breach' after Capitol insurrection

Senior Pentagon officials appeared before the House armed services committee today to provide testimony on the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The hearing came one day after defense secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, testified before the Senate armed services committee on the withdrawal operation.

Many of the officials’ comments echoed what they told senators yesterday, saying they failed to properly anticipate how swiftly the Afghan government and military would fall as US troops left the country.

Milley also defended the integrity of his actions during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, when he had conversations with his Chinese counterpart to assure him the US was not planning a strike against China.

In a rather notable moment during the hearing, Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney commended Milley for upholding American values in the face of the Capitol insurrection on January 6.

Cheney, one of two Republicans serving on the select committee investigating the insurrection, criticized her colleagues for “attempting to whitewash what happened”.

The Wyoming lawmaker argued it was “despicable” for those who have downplayed the violence of January 6 to then question Milley’s loyalty to his country over his conversations with China.

“Gen Milley, you found yourself in your constitutionally prescribed role standing in the breach,” Cheney said. “I want to thank you for standing in the breach, when so many, including many in this room, fail to do so.”

Democrats argue that they have traditionally voted in a bipartisan way to raise the debt ceiling, and did so three times during Donald Trump’s presidency.

They say that such action relates to debt that has already been incurred, and in particular the tax breaks passed by Trump and Republicans in 2017.

But Republicans are conflating the debt-ceiling debate with Joe Biden’s spending plan in hopes of hammering vulnerable Democrats in the midterms.

Even if the House passes the measure, it has no clear path forward in the Senate, where Republicans remain in opposition after twice blocking attempts to suspend the debt limit.

Republicans are essentially trying to force Democrats to raise the debt limit by themselves using the reconciliation budget process, which is not subject to the Senate filibuster.

But Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer earlier ruled out reconciliation as an option. He argued today that there was not enough time to go through the legislative hoopla that is reconciliation and essentially dared Republicans to allow a default.

So far, Republicans have made clear they have no intention of blinking, bringing the US economy dangerously close to the edge of fiscal calamity.

Pelosi says House will vote today to suspend debt limit

In a letter to colleagues, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote today on legislation to suspend the debt limit.

“The full faith and credit of the United States should not be questioned,” she said in a “Dear Colleague” letter, which included a list of urgent warnings from top economists and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about the devastating economic consequences of allowing the nation to default on its debt.

Pelosi’s words were aimed at a group of vulnerable House Democrats who are threatening to vote against the bill, which would suspend the debt limit through mid-December, amid fears they would be attacked by Republicans as fiscally irresponsible during next year’s midterm elections.

“I have no patience for people not voting for this,” Pelosi told reporters this morning, her frustration evident. She noted that House Democrats voted last week to raise the nation’s borrowing capacity: “If they’re concerned how it might be in an ad, it’s already in an ad.”

Melody Schreiber reports for the Guardian:

The southern US state of Alabama, which has the highest death rate from Covid-19 in America, is planning to use Covid relief funds to help construct three large prisons and renovate several others.

State lawmakers began a special session on Monday to discuss the $1.3bn construction project, which would use up to $400m from American Rescue Plan funds allocated to the state – nearly 20% of Alabama’s federal pandemic relief money.

Opponents say the funds should address active and ongoing issues from the pandemic, including overwhelmed health systems, outdated school ventilation systems and economic fallout for small businesses.

The Republican governor, Kay Ivey, said the plan to build new facilities and renovate others could be a solution to safety concerns in correctional facilities, which are notorious in many parts of the US for violence and poor safety records.

As Democrats remain at an impasse over the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, some have expressed concern that the American public could have been better informed about what the latter bill actually aims to achieve.

The White House has packaged the wide range of initiatives under the loose slogan of “Build Back Better,” but the bill has more commonly been labelled in the media by its headline price tag - $3.5 trillion - with Democrats also unable to say definitively what would be in it.

The Associated Press reports:

The package, now the subject of furious negotiations on Capitol Hill, would fundamentally transform the government’s relationship with its citizens and dramatically expand the social safety net.

It sets out to broaden well-known programs for example, adding dental vision and hearing aid benefits to Medicare and continuing the Obama-era health law’s temporary subsidies that helped people buy insurance during the pandemic [...]

“This is a case where the parts are greater than the sum: It’s important for people to know what the parts are, they are very popular and would have a very positive impact on people’s life,” said David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama.

“But it’s become a battle over price tag and that’s unappealing. That’s the battlefield where Republicans want Democrats to fight.”

Polling suggests that elements in the bill such as child care and infrastructure are popular with large parts of the public. But advocates worry the voters don’t know that those things are in the plan.

“’Building Back Better’ doesn’t say to people what we are building back at least when you talk about bridges, people have an idea,” said Robert Blendon, a longtime public opinion analyst at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“It’s the price you pay when you are not dealing with a single issue. ... ‘Building Back’ is the slogan, but there’s just no evidence that the public grasps what is in this bill.”

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Democrats remain at an impasse over the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package. House progressives are threatening to vote against the infrastructure bill unless the reconciliation package moves forward simultaneously. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she wants to bring the infrastructure bill up for a vote tomorrow, which almost certainly does not leave enough time to reach a deal on the reconciliation package.
  • Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he does not want to use reconciliation to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. Senate Republicans remain adamantly against raising the debt ceiling, so unless Democrats use reconciliation, the country could be facing a potential default next month. But Schumer argued that there is too little time to go through the process of reconciliation, which would not require any Republican support to address the debt ceiling.
  • Schumer said the Senate will take action on a government spending bill “as early as today”. Congress needs to pass a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown, which is set to go into effect on Friday unless funding is extended.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports on a Texas city that highlights America’s shifting political identity and Republicans’ response to it:

A few nights a week, Mohammad Aziz meets his friend Syed Ali in the parking lot of a strip mall in Sugar Land, the suburban city just south-west of Houston. Syed runs Nash Up Chick, a food truck dishing out Nashville-style hot chicken just off Highway 6. The men, both immigrants from Pakistan, sit in plastic chairs and pass the time in the soupy Texas heat, chatting in a mix of English and Urdu.

It’s a scene that was hard to imagine when Aziz, a 52-year-old cook, moved to Houston more than two decades ago. Back then, he remembers, Highway 6 was just a single lane in each direction, and there was so little development that it seemed like a jungle.

Now, the adjoining strip mall includes an Afghan restaurant, a Pakistani dessert spot where the line can stretch out the door. A corner of the parking lot is closed off for food trucks like Syed’s, serving kabobs, burgers, kati rolls and chicken wings.

The transformation is why the once-quiet suburban Fort Bend county, which includes Sugar Land, has become one of the most important places in America.

The political and demographic future of America will look like what Fort Bend county looks like now, demographers believe. The county is extremely diverse – about 32% of people are white, 25% are Hispanic or Latino, 21% are Asian and 21% are Black. And its population exploded over the last decade, growing by 40% to about 823,000 people.

But this fall, Republicans could blunt the remarkable transformation happening in Fort Bend county, across Texas, and places around the US seeing similar changes.

Read the Guardian’s full report:

Senator Bernie Sanders said that he hopes the House fails to pass the infrastructure bill if speaker Nancy Pelosi moves forward with plans to hold a vote on the proposal tomorrow.

Sanders told Business Insider, “It’s terribly important before the House votes we have a strong reconciliation package that not only addresses the needs of working families but also the existential climate threat.”

Sanders has already said that he supports House progressives who are threatening to oppose the infrastructure bill unless the reconciliation package advances at the same time.

“If the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed on its own on Thursday, this will be in violation of an agreement that was reached within the Democratic Caucus in Congress,” Sanders said yesterday.

“I strongly urge my House colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill.”

Trump plans to sue to keep White House records on Capitol attack secret

Donald Trump is preparing to sue to block the release of White House records from his administration to the House select committee scrutinizing the 6 January attack on the Capitol by claiming executive privilege, potentially touching off an extended legal battle over disclosure.

The former president also expects top aides – former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – to defy select committee subpoenas for records and testimony.

Trump’s moves to try to resist the select committee, informed by a source familiar with his planning, are likely to lead to constitutional clashes in court that would test the power of Congress’s oversight authority over the executive branch.

The sharpening contours of Trump’s intention to stonewall the select committee mark a new turning point as he seeks to keep a grip on the rapidly escalating investigation into the events of 6 January that left five dead and about 140 others injured.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to reporters after the Democratic caucus meeting this morning to discuss the path forward for the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package.

Pelosi said she hopes to have an agreement on “legislative language” for the reconciliation package by tomorrow, which could allow progressives to support the infrastructure bill.

As of now, House progressives are threatening to oppose the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package advances as well.

If Pelosi could get a deal on legislative language for the reconciliation package, progressives’ stance may change, but that will be very difficult to accomplish in such a short period of time.

Stay tuned.

Senate Republicans are pushing back against majority leader Chuck Schumer’s claim that there is not enough time to address the debt ceiling via reconciliation.

“Of course there’s enough time to do it in reconciliation,” Mitt Romney said, per HuffPost. “It’s a process you can make more speedy by agreement. But even without speeding it up, it’s a couple of weeks process, and it’s not until the 18th of October.”

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said in a letter yesterday that the debt ceiling must be raised or suspended by October 18 to avoid a default.

Schumer says he will not use reconciliation to suspend debt ceiling, risking default

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he would not use reconciliation to suspend the debt ceiling, increasing the risk of a potential default, which would be catastrophic for the US economy.

In a floor speech moments ago, the Democratic leader attacked his Republican colleagues for opposing a debt ceiling hike.

“Never has there been a default caused by pure stupidity -- in this case, Republican stupidity,” Schumer said.

If Republicans remain opposed to a debt ceiling increase, the only way to overcome a Senate filibuster would be for Democrats to address the matter via reconciliation, which would not require any Republican support.

However, Schumer said reconciliation was too risky of a strategy to pursue because there was limited time to address the debt ceiling, and a single senator could delay the process long enough to cause a default.

“As default gets closer and closer to becoming a reality, our Republican colleagues will be forced to ask themselves how long they are going to keep playing political games while the economic stability of our country is at risk,” Schumer said.

Senate may take action on government spending 'as early as today,' Schumer says

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has just said that the upper chamber may take action “as early as today” to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

In a floor speech, Schumer said that Senate Democrats will soon introduce a continuing resolution to keep the government open “until early December”.

Senate Democrats will need 10 of their Republican colleagues to support the funding bill if there is a filibuster of the proposal.

Assuming the Senate can get the bill passed, it will then go to the House, which will have to pass the legislation before tomorrow night to avoid a shutdown.

White House adviser Cedric Richmond is attending the House Democratic caucus meeting this morning, per CNN.

The House Democratic caucus meeting is expected to focus on how members can simultaneously advance Joe Biden’s legislative agenda, avoid a government shutdown and suspend the debt ceiling.

Richmond previously served in the House as a member of the Louisiana delegation, but he left Congress earlier this year to serve in the Biden administration.

Government shutdown looms as Democrats spar over legislative agenda

And as Democrats try to advance the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, they are also trying to avoid a government shutdown.

As of now, government funding is expected to run out tomorrow night, meaning a shutdown could go into effect on Friday.

Democrats had been attempting to simultaneously extend government funding and suspend the debt ceiling, but Republicans remain firmly opposed to helping on the debt ceiling matter.

So Democrats may now put forward a bill to only fund the government in the hopes that enough Senate Republicans will support the proposal to get it passed.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday, “I think very soon we will put down a bill to deal with the shutdown and move forward.”

But if Democrats do pursue that strategy, they will still have to deal with the much larger problem of a potential default, and they will only have a few weeks to avoid it.

Democrats are on the verge of a make-or-break moment – one that will determine the fate of Joe Biden’s ambitious economic agenda – as they rush to bridge the internal divisions threatening to derail passage of the sweeping social policy package and a smaller infrastructure bill.

Failure would be disastrous for the president and his party’s political prospects next year, but success was far from certain with less than 48 hours left before a consequential vote in the House on Thursday.

In a sign of the stakes, Biden canceled a scheduled trip to Illinois to remain in Washington and “continue working on advancing these two pieces of legislation”, according to a White House official.

“This is a big week for the American people. It’s a big week for President Biden. It’s a big week for House and Senate Democrats,” the New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a member of House leadership, told reporters.

“We’re not running away from that. We’re leaning into it. We embrace it. We understand that we’ve been given the opportunity to govern for the people, to build back better, that’s exactly what we are committed to doing.”

Tense day of negotiations ahead as Democrats struggle to advance agenda

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

There will be more tense negotiations on Capitol Hill today, as Democrats attempt to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi had said the chamber would vote on the infrastructure bill tomorrow, but progressives are threatening to oppose the legislation unless the reconciliation package advances at the same time.

Nancy Pelosi speaks during an event with House Democrats and climate activists.
Nancy Pelosi speaks during an event with House Democrats and climate activists. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/REX/Shutterstock

The Congressional Progressive Caucus chair issued a statement yesterday saying, “Progressives will vote for both bills, but a majority of our members will only vote for the infrastructure bill after the President’s visionary Build Back Better Act passes.”

But House moderates have demanded a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, and some of them have threatened to oppose the reconciliation package if the vote does not happen.

So Pelosi must bring together the two sides of her caucus. And if she doesn’t, it’s possible that both bills will fail.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

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Katy Perry Responds to Fan Selling Concert Ticket Due to Money Struggles: 'But I'm Looking Forward to Seeing You!'
Katy Perry's response to a fan's financial struggles has ignited a social media debate, highlighting the challenges of celebrity engagement.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
A Big Change At Disneyland Has Some Theme Park Fans Talking About Ride Queue Etiquette, And I Think There's A Clear Answer
If you're going to Disneyland, you need to know how to queue.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban Divorce: Babygirl Star Breaks Silence On Split, Vows To Keep Family Together
Nicole Kidman has addressed her divorce from Keith Urban for the first time, using a new Variety interview to stress privacy, family and forward motion. Her comments arrive months after reports of the September 2025 split and January settlement details that set out how the former couple would parent their…
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
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