Dems Race to Resolve House-Senate Disputes on $3.5T Megabill
According to an article at Politico, Democrats are pushing to finalize a massive social spending plan during what was referred to as the “dog days” of summer recess with a plethora of deadlines for Congress later on in September.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered committee leaders to battle it out with their Senate counterparts to resolve all major disputes this week on what will be included in the up-to-$3.5 trillion bill,” read the article at Politico. “But wide gulfs remain between the House and Senate on central pieces of the package, including expanding Medicare, shoring up Obamacare, raising taxes and curbing carbon emissions.”
The article also mentioned that Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer see “high-velocity multitasking” as the only way to ensure the proposal moves in accordance to the bipartisan Senate-passed infrastructure bill. That legislation is set for a House vote on Sept. 27. If the Democrats cannot finalize a social spending plan before the infrastructure vote, they could be putting key parts of the president’s agenda in jeopardy.
“It is pushing it. All we can do is try,” House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) said. “We’re trying to kind of pre-conference this to the greatest extent.”
