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The Reckoning Continues In What Promises To Be A Wild Week In Congress

September 27, 2021
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speak before standing at the top of the House steps of the U.S. Capitol as they await the arriva... WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speak before standing at the top of the House steps of the U.S. Capitol as they await the arrival of the casket of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 25, 2020 in Washington, DC. Ginsburg, who was appointed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, served on the high court from 1993, until her death on September 18, 2020. She is the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol. (Photo by Alex Brandon - Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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September 27, 2021

And we’re off to the races.

This week is when the tug-o-war over infrastructure will truly begin to heat up: The House will begin the debate over the bipartisan infrastructure bill today and is slated to vote for it on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told rank-and-file Democrats in her chamber on Sunday.

Democratic leaders also hope to finish up on negotiations over the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill this week after centrist Democrats threw a grenade at the initially agreed-upon two-track process of passing the reconciliation and the infrastructure bills together.

But the real fight is in the Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have kicked up a fuss over the $3.5 trillion price tag of the reconciliation bill. That’s also where Democrats find themselves in a gridlock with Republicans who refuse to suspend the debt ceiling for the legislation.

Follow our live coverage below:

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And we’re off to the races.

This week is when the tug-o-war over infrastructure will truly begin to heat up: The House will begin the debate over the bipartisan infrastructure bill today and is slated to vote for it on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told rank-and-file Democrats in her chamber on Sunday.

Democratic leaders also hope to finish up on negotiations over the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill this week after centrist Democrats threw a grenade at the initially agreed-upon two-track process of passing the reconciliation and the infrastructure bills together.

But the real fight is in the Senate, where Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have kicked up a fuss over the $3.5 trillion price tag of the reconciliation bill. That’s also where Democrats find themselves in a gridlock with Republicans who refuse to suspend the debt ceiling for the legislation.

Follow our live coverage below:

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Sep 27, 2021 6:49 p.m.

Senate GOP Blocks Bill To Keep Government Funded

And there you have it — Senate Republicans made good on their threat to filibuster a bill to temporarily fund the government and suspend the debt ceiling in a 48-50 vote.

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Sep 27, 2021 6:46 p.m.

Romney: 2.5 Weeks Before Government Shuts Down Thanks To GOP’s Standoff!

In the midst of Republicans’ then-expected filibuster of the continuing resolution that’s linked to a debt ceiling raise, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told TPM that he estimates that Democrats have about 2.5 weeks to throw the suspension of the debt ceiling into the reconciliation bill.

Experts told my colleague Kate Riga, however, that the Treasury will likely exhaust its “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the country’s bills sometime next month, and that Democrats will face numerous obstacles if they raise the debt ceiling on their own through reconciliation.

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Sep 27, 2021 6:13 p.m.

Hirono Rips McConnell For ‘Sitting On His Ass’ On Debt Ceiling

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) had choice words for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) brinksmanship on the debt ceiling.

“Some kind of understanding has got to be reached because we’re not about to have a government shutdown or defaulting on our debts because defaulting on our debt means that the government is going to run out of cash to pay social security and all that,” Hirono told TPM.

Hirono then called out McConnell’s “bullshit” by refusing to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling, despite Republicans having voted to do so three times throughout the Trump administration.

“It’s not enough for Mitch McConnell to sit on his ass and say we have nothing to do with this, that’s sort of bullshit,” Hirono told TPM. “So we shall see.”

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Sep 27, 2021 6:08 p.m.

Schatz Says Everyone Could Benefit From ‘Not Negotiating Through Media’

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who is among the 11 senators backing House progressives’ plan to vote down the bipartisan infrastructure bill until reconciliation is ready to pass alongside it, advised lawmakers to avoid the tendency to “negotiate through the media.”

“I think we’re in a better space — like seven days ago it was looking very rocky,” Schatz told TPM’s Kate Riga. “And I’m not saying that everything’s fine, but I think everyone would benefit from not negotiating through the media and talking to each other and remembering that we’re all in this together.”

Negotiations had been taking place through the weekend by phone, Schatz said. “I spent the whole weekend on the phone,” he said.

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Sep 27, 2021 4:39 p.m.

Parade Of Kayaks Will Pass By Manchin’s Houseboat To Demand He Support Both Infrastructure Bills

Activists are getting creative in their attempts to sway the obstacle that is Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). As he continues to showboat his key vote in the 50-50 Senate by putting up a fight over the reconciliation bill’s price tag, Manchin (D-WV) is in hot water with Greenpeace activists amid his resistance to climate change provisions in the Democrats’ sweeping package.

According to Politico, the non-profit organization will organize a flotilla of kayaks and boats that will parade past Manchin’s houseboat in D.C. to demand that he support both the Build Back Better plan and the full reconciliation bill.

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Sep 27, 2021 3:53 p.m.

McConnell Will Ask To Nix Debt Ceiling From Continuing Resolution

Speaking on the floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made clear that Republicans stand by their opposition to raising the debt ceiling. McConnell painted the continuing resolution to keep the government open as a “partisan” exercise because it is linked to a suspension of the debt ceiling.

“We will support a clean continuing resolution that will prevent a government shutdown, get disaster relief to Louisiana, help properly vetted Afghan refugees who put themselves on the line for America and support the Iron Dome assistance for our ally Israel,” McConnell said, before declaring that Republicans will not provide the votes needed to raise the debt ceiling.

McConnell said that before the vote scheduled for this afternoon, he will request consent to nix the continuing resolution that is “dead on arrival” and instead have a Senate vote on a “clean” bill that would “easily” pass in the upper chamber.

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Sep 27, 2021 3:36 p.m.

Schumer Blasts GOPers Ahead of Their Expected Filibuster Of Continuing Resolution

Ahead of today’s vote on the continuing resolution that also includes a suspension of the debt ceiling, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) excoriated Republicans over their brinksmanship and expected filibuster of the bill.

“After today there will be no doubt about which party is working to solve the problems in that face our country and which party is accelerating us toward unnecessarily, avoidable disaster,” Schumer said.

Schumer added that if Republicans follow through with their refusal to help Democrats raise the debt ceiling, they will be “on record deliberately sabotaging our country’s ability to pay the bills and likely causing the first ever default in American history.”

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Sep 27, 2021 2:58 p.m.

White House Tells Reporters: Biden Is ‘Not A Wallflower’ Amid Negotiations

White House press secretary Jen Psaki informed reporters that the President is “not a wallflower” who silently listens to debates over his agenda. Psaki noted that Biden is “not naive about the challenge here” and that he is “engaging in conversations.”

“I don’t know if you’ve met many senators, they’re not going to be forced to do anything that’s not in their interest,” Psaki said.

Psaki’s remarks comes as moderate Democrats have claimed to Politico Playbook that they are dissatisfied with Biden, suggesting he should pressure progressives to back off the longtime two-track plan to pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package in tandem. Moderates have been up in arms over the $3.5 trillion price tag of the reconciliation package.

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Sep 27, 2021 2:40 p.m.

Hoyer, 63 House Dems Write Letter To McConnell Urging Him Off ‘Dangerous’ Debt Limit ‘Irresponsibility’

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), flanked by 63 House Democrats, wrote a letter to McConnell Monday emphasizing his “dangerous, illogical and irresponsible” hostage-taking with the debt limit. The letter comes hours before Senate Republicans plan to filibuster the continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for a few months and suspend the debt limit through next December.

Read the letter here.

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Sep 27, 2021 2:34 p.m.

White House: POTUS Working With Democrats Today To Move His Agenda Forward

After noting that “nothing is guaranteed” on infrastructure negotiations, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a briefing that President Biden will “work this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow” with Democrats to do everything he can to advance both bipartisan bills.

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Notable Replies

  1. Manchin and Sinema (they are One Act, hence the singular) reminds me of Ben Nelson some years back…

    except Nelson was not made into a Rock Star

  2. One of these days the U.S. is going to fall and break a hip. Then doctors will do an MRI and discover its bones are riddled with cancer and it’s time to start saying its goodbyes.

  3. You left out the post-diagnosis period where it forgoes chemo and ingests every fake cure found on the internets and promoted by GOP Facebook, M. D.

  4. “Riddled with cancer”
    Any decent oncologist can examine the symptoms of “corporations are people” and “post racial America” and easily identify the source of the cancer.

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