Pelosi takes step to quell moderates’ budget rebellion

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is proposing a procedural vote this month that would set up future passage of two economic measures crucial to President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, a move Democratic leaders hope will win votes from unhappy party moderates.

In a letter Sunday to Democratic lawmakers, Pelosi, D-San Francisco, suggested that the House will take a single vote that would clear an initial hurdle for both a budget resolution and a separate infrastructure bill. The budget blueprint would open the gate for Congress to later consider a separate, $3.5 trillion, 10-year bill for health, education and environment programs.

Nine centrist Democrats said Friday they would oppose the budget resolution until the House first approves a $1 trillion package of road, railway and other infrastructure projects. That compromise measure, which the Senate approved last week with bipartisan support, is the top priority for moderates, who want to bank a quick win by sending it to Biden for his signature.

By forcing the House to vote on moving both measures an initial step forward together, Democratic leaders hope moderates will be forced to abandon their threat — at least for now — and join the rest of the party in pushing its economic and social agenda toward eventual passage.

Bolstering the social safety net, combatting climate change and creating jobs rank atop Biden’s and Democrats’ priorities. A defeat, especially at this early stage, would be deeply wounding to the party’s legislative goals and a political blow ahead of next year’s elections for congressional control.

As if to drive home that point, Pelosi wrote, “We will proceed in a way that builds consensus in our Caucus, promotes the values of our party and advances the President’s transformative vision to Build Back Better,” the collective name for Biden’s plans.

She pointedly added, “These bills will be the biggest and most consequential initiatives that any of us have ever undertaken in our official lives.”

Even so, her party is divided.

Progressive Democrats’ No. 1 goal is approval of $3.5 trillion worth of spending boosts and tax cuts for health care, education, social safety net and climate change programs. Much of it would be paid for by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations.

Passing the budget resolution is pivotal because that would shield the subsequent $3.5 trillion bill from Republican Senate filibusters, or delays, that would kill it.