Pressley sees ‘great victory’ for left
U.S. Rep cites Biden’s support on infrastructure bills as a win
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley claimed a “great victory” for progressives in Washington as President Biden relieved the pressure on Democrats to hammer out a deal on both a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a further left social spending bill.
“We earned a great victory for the movement when the president committed, after 50-plus progressives held the line to ensure we left no one behind, that there would not be a vote on a physical infrastructure bill until there is an agreement on a social infrastructure bill, to really ‘build back better,’” the Boston Democrat said at a Hyde Park rally for mayoral candidate Michelle Wu, hearkening back to Biden’s own campaign slogan.
Pressley and other progressive House members have used their votes on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that’s already passed through the Senate as a bargaining chip. They’ve all agreed to “#HoldTheLine” as they’ve coined their move in hopes of passing a $3.5 trillion bill alongside it. This bill would make investments in key areas of Biden’s campaign agenda including paid family leave, child care, climate and housing.
On Friday, Biden headed to Capitol Hill, where he told House Democrats that the two bills would have to be linked to pass, but also acknowledged that the $3.5 trillion price tag may have to come down to appease the more moderate wing of the House Dems. After Biden acknowledged the link between the bills, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to move the deadline for the infrastructure bill, which has already passed the Senate, to pass the House.
In Boston, Pressley remarked that she had just stepped off a plane, having slept no more than six and a half hours in the previous three days as she negotiated over these bills in Washington. In fighting for this agenda, Pressley said she’s working to disrupt “decades of policy violence” and “budgetary neglect.”
These processes, she said, “have resulted in inequities and disparities and persistent racial injustices, none of which happened by happenstance, or were naturally occurring. They were all legislated.”
Pressley, who endorsed Wu for mayor on Friday week, also drew similarities between her “holding the line” in Washington and Wu in Boston on the City Council, fighting for progressive policies including paid leave, and investments in child care, affordable housing and climate justice.
In order to do this work, Pressley said, she needs “a partner in the corner office,” she said. “And I know that I will have that in Michelle Wu.”