The impasse left unclear the fate of the infrastructure measure. “I tell you, after that statement, we probably have even more people willing to vote ‘no’ on the bipartisan bill,” she added. “Look, this is why we’re not voting for that bipartisan bill until we get agreement on the reconciliation bill. “I assume he’s saying that the president is insane, because this is the president’s agenda,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of Mr. They have been pressing to push off the infrastructure vote until after votes on the reconciliation bill - or, at the very least, after the centrist holdouts provided a firm sense of what they would accept in that package. Instead, it further enraged progressives who were already promising to oppose the infrastructure bill until Congress acted on the larger social policy plan, which Democrats plan to push through using a fast-track process known as budget reconciliation to shield it from a filibuster. Manchin and other centrist critics of the bill by week’s end - a firm public commitment to eventually vote for the social policy measure, in order to placate liberals who want to ensure its enactment. Biden and top Democrats had hoped to extract from Mr. The statement was the polar opposite of what Mr. Manchin wrote, denouncing an approach that he said would “vengefully tax for the sake of wishful spending.” “While I am hopeful that common ground can be found that would result in another historic investment in our nation, I cannot - and will not - support trillions in spending or an all-or-nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces,” Mr. Biden remained far short of a deal.ĭramatizing the challenge, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a leading holdout on the social policy bill, issued a lengthy and strongly worded statement on Wednesday evening reiterating his opposition to the proposal as currently constituted, saying it amounted to “fiscal insanity.” But after days of personal meetings with lawmakers in the Oval Office and phone calls to key players, Mr. Biden’s presidency, and the intense negotiations surrounding them have posed a test of his skills as a deal maker, which he highlighted as a calling card during his campaign for the White House. The fate of the two measures could define the success of Mr. That, in turn, was imperiling a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that was scheduled for a House vote on Thursday. Biden’s two biggest legislative priorities, the president and top Democrats appeared as far as ever from an agreement on their marquee social policy package, which the White House calls the Build Back Better plan. Yet after days of intensive negotiations to bridge bitter differences in their party over Mr. WASHINGTON - Democrats prepared legislation on Wednesday to avert a government shutdown this week, but they were desperately trying to salvage President Biden’s domestic agenda as conservative-leaning holdouts dug in against an ambitious $3.5 trillion social safety net and climate bill that carries many of the party’s top priorities.Ĭongressional leaders moved to address the most immediate threat, working to complete a bill to prevent a government funding lapse at midnight on Thursday. Follow our live news coverage on the government shutdown and infrastructure bill.