In response, House Democrats are insisting that the two chambers negotiate up front over what bill they can each pass. Only after they have reached a deal will the House vote on it, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has suggested.
Those negotiations have begun, and they will proceed quickly over the next few weeks. By the end of September, the fate of the bill — and, by extension, Biden’s bid for a consequential presidency — will probably be clear.
“This is the Biden agenda,” Carl Hulse, The Times’s chief Washington correspondent, says. “There is a lot that has to happen, but I think most of the Democrats realize they don’t have a choice. If they don’t do this, they probably don’t do anything.”
This morning, I’ll walk you three pressing questions about the effort:
1. Why the rush?
The rapid timetable stems in part from a longstanding rule of Capitol Hill politics: Protracted negotiations damage a bill’s popularity. Opponents step up their lobbying. Internal party factions fight with each other. And voters are turned off by the messiness, even when the underlying policies are popular, as is the case here. Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist, has tweeted: “Speed is Dems’ best friend. The longer this lags, the harder/smaller it gets.”
With this bill, there is also another reason for speed. To keep both progressive and moderate Democrats happy, party leaders must pass both a version of the $3.5 trillion plan (a progressive priority) as well as a smaller physical infrastructure bill (a bipartisan priority). If the two do not pass around the same time this fall, support for both could crumble.