Nearly 60 House Democrats Warn Against Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

As Senate Republicans were preparing to deliver their updated proposal to the White House Tuesday, a group of nearly 60 House Democrats was pushing party leaders to avoid scaling back the size and scope of any infrastructure legislation. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) obtained by ABC News, the Democrats said that achieving legislative priorities should come before bipartisanship.

“While bipartisan support is welcome, the pursuit of Republican votes cannot come at the expense of limiting the scope of popular investments,” they wrote. The signatories were led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). “On a host of priorities that can be delivered by this Congress, the trade-offs for Republican votes are stark. We ask that you work with the White House to prioritize transformative legislation that our voters were promised, which may require reforming or even eliminating the Senate filibuster as well as wielding the full powers available of the presidency, vice presidency, and relevant federal agencies to achieve these goals.”

The letter urged lawmakers to "pursue a larger up-front investment that truly meets this historic moment," calling for a package even larger than Biden has proposed. The Democrats said they “strongly support” Biden’s campaign proposal for some $7 trillion in investments in health, energy, infrastructure and child-care.

The group also called for passing their legislation in a single package, even as Biden appears to be open to passing a bipartisan package for physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges and then following up with another package that Democrats could look to pass on their own via the budget reconciliation process.

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