What they're saying...
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), No. 5 in House leadership: "It's important to have a bipartisan bill … but we also want a 21st century infrastructure bill that is resilient and sustainable, and recognizes the threat that climate change poses."
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whip of the House Progressive Caucus, told Axios the group is debating whether they'll demand substantive changes.
- "I think it's gonna be really valuable for us to be as involved as possible. We do have a progressive champion [Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)] in the Senate ... and the chair here on the House side is also a member of our caucus [Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.)].”
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said: "The soup is not cooked yet. So, I'm not going to prejudge what they're doing."
What we're hearing: Progressive Democrats are opposed to the Senate Budget Committee's plans to keep the total price tag for the two bills at $4.1 trillion, especially if Republicans ultimately refuse to support the bipartisan, "hard" infrastructure package in the Senate.
- Axios reported last week that Senate Democrats on the Budget Committee don't want to reopen debate on the roughly $1.2 trillion bipartisan proposal, even if it founders in their chamber.
- They're eager to make the argument that the GOP opposed the measure even when it included everything their party members negotiated.
- "Why not try to get a more ambitious proposal if Republicans are no longer in the equation?" one progressive lawmaker told Axios, requesting anonymity.
Between the lines: By design, the House is an entirely different beast than the Senate, a rowdy chamber with 535 members as opposed to a more clubby group of 100.
- In a sense of the chamber's tenor, Rep. DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, called the Senate's bipartisan bill “crap” during a private meeting on Tuesday, Politico reported.
The bottom line: In order to pass, the infrastructure bills have to go through a rigorous process in the House — one that could change the face of both measures before President Biden takes the cap off his pen.
