Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Infrastructure bill: Progressives rebel, say they'll tank infrastructure legislation

Congressional Democrats are scrambling to pass the infrastructure bill by Thursday despite threats from progressives to tank it over a lack of progress on the reconciliation bill. House Democrats blamed moderate Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for gumming up reconciliation talks.

Sanders: No passage of bipartisan infrastructure bill without $3.5 trillion spending package

Sen. Bernie Sanders urged House Democrats to reject the bipartisan bill if it is introduced for a vote before the $3.5 trillion package favored by progressives is passed.

“Let’s be crystal clear. If the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed on its own on Thursday, this will be in violation of an agreement that was reached within the Democratic Caucus in Congress,” Sanders said. “More importantly, it will end all leverage that we have to pass a major reconciliation bill. That means there will be no serious effort to address the long-neglected crises facing the working families of our country, the children, the elderly, the sick and the poor.”

“It also means that Congress will continue to ignore the existential threat to our country and planet with regard to climate change,” Sanders added. “I strongly urge my House colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress passes a strong reconciliation bill.”