Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker (D-CA), attempted to do some political maneuvering by linking an infrastructure bill that was bipartisan with the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation legislation being pushed forward by the far left.
The party’s moderates and progressives are at a stalemate on the subject. Soon approaching deadlines could lead to a debt limit crisis. A recent conversation with a reporter shows that Pelosi is losing patience.
“That’s what we have to do”
A video clip shows that the House speaker snapped at the reporter, who basically asked her how she planned to free her party from the mess she created.
The reporter asked specifically why Pelosi felt the need “to twist the arms of moderates” to advance a bill that could spell doom for the Senate.
“What are you talking about?” she snapped back. “We have a responsibility to uphold, to lift up the full faith and credit of the United States of America. That’s what we have to do. These members have all voted for this last week.”
Concerning her chamber, she expressed optimism that the Democratic caucus would act in principle and not be concerned about future roadblocks.
“We cannot predicate our actions in the House on what could happen in the Senate,” she said. “We can when we’re coming to an agreement on a bill, but in terms of this, I have no patience for people not voting for that.”
“Moral imperative”
The frustration expressed by the speaker may not be about the debt ceiling issue, but rather about the impasse between warring factions within her party over spending bills and, more broadly, the Biden administration’s agenda.
Pelosi snaps at a reporter questioning her strategy on the debt ceiling: “What are you talking about?!” pic.twitter.com/1vsgvDkGjS
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 29, 2021
Moderates prefer voting for the smaller infrastructure bill but are not happy with the higher price tag of the Build Back Better act. Progressives refuse to vote for infrastructure bills until the social spending bill has been brought up for a vote.
Pelosi requested a vote on infrastructure before the deadline, after which transportation funding would be canceled.
In recent days, Pelosi issued statements stressing the importance and tacitly warning moderates of the “moral imperative”, which is passing Biden’s agenda. She was back on Wednesday slamming GOP ” extremism” to try to explain why the debt limit had not been raised.
