House Democrats meet as leaders race to secure deal on Biden priorities

House Democrats are set to huddle Friday morning as party leaders sprint to secure an intraparty deal they hope will convince progressives to support the infrastructure package.

The Friday morning caucus meeting follows a late night — Speaker Nancy Pelosi left the Capitol after midnight, the culmination of hours of scrambling to secure a deal with key Senate Democratic moderates Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

Those talks, which also include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House, already resumed in earnest Friday. White House officials met Thursday evening in Manchin’s office in the Capitol along with Sinema, but the West Virginia Democrat appeared unmoved after their meeting.

Those centrists want the bipartisan infrastructure bill to pass the House but are less keen on a sweeping spending package that could cost up to $3.5 trillion. House progressives, meanwhile, are threatening to tank the infrastructure legislation without certain guarantees on the multitrillion-dollar social safety net bill that would reform policies on child care, health care and climate change.

While senior Democrats say they are making progress in talks, the framework remains unfinished and lawmakers are unlikely to see a final top line in their caucus meeting, according to multiple sources.

The impasse has left a signature element of President Joe Biden’s agenda in limbo and is exposing divisions among Democrats over the scale and scope of their agenda.

“We’re on a path” to have a vote Friday, Pelosi said as she entered the Capitol Friday morning, though she told reporters it would be “useful for us to have a conversation later today.”

But when House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was asked if a vote were happening Friday, he said: “We’ll see.”

Pelosi and Democratic leaders punted a planned Thursday vote on the infrastructure legislation while negotiations continued with Senate moderates. Democratic leaders have hoped to strike a deal that would cost a total of $2.1 trillion, but Manchin remains firm at his $1.5 trillion top line, less than half of what progressives want in the final bill.

Progressives have held firm on their demand to hold a vote on the social spending bill before the infrastructure legislation. They have repeatedly warned that they’ll sink the infrastructure bill if it comes to the floor before the social spending bill.

The failure to pass an infrastructure bill on Thursday also puts highway and transit funding temporarily in a lurch, as that day was the deadline to renew surface transportation programs. Department of Transportation employees could face furloughs if the programs are not reauthorized, though lawmakers have discussed a temporary extension of the programs that could quickly pass through both chambers.

Democrats, however, are still hoping they can reach a deal on the broader framework Friday and then pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill. Their goal is to reach agreement on the legislation’s total cost and some of its major provisions.

Pelosi, for her part, said that the House would vote Friday on the bill as she left the Capitol building just after midnight. “There will be a vote today,” she said.

Party leaders used a procedural maneuver to avoid starting a new legislative day — a nod to moderates who had wanted a Thursday vote on the legislation.

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