Senate progressives threaten to tank bipartisan infrastructure deal

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Progressive Democrats are threatening to sink a bipartisan infrastructure proposal if they do not receive assurances slot  that moderate and conservative members of their own party would back a go-it-alone effort to pass President Joe Biden's other key infrastructure priorities.

Those progressives want a guarantee that Democrats would unite behind the use of a fast-track budget tool known as reconciliation that allows them to bypass GOP objections with a party-line vote on a package including, climate, elder and child care and housing.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is in a difficult position. He cannot afford to lose progressives if he hopes to muster the 60 votes necessary to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill. And to pass more progressive priorities using reconciliation, he can't afford to lose a single Democrat.

"One of the questions asked in our caucus lunch: Will the Democrats who are a part of this (compromise) be with us on reconciliation for what is not included?" Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip, said Monday. "I think that is an important question."

To that end, Schumer announced Tuesday that he plans to convene Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee to lay out their 2022 budget objectives. This move is the first step necessary to tee up the reconciliation process.

For progressives, evidence that Democratic leadership is moving forward with reconciliation is essential to secure votes for the bipartisan deal.

Already, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders has said the bipartisan deal doesn't have his support.

"I wouldn't vote for it," he said on Monday.