MESOP WATCH NEW: Biden’s Spending Plans Could Still Be Too Expensive to Pass

As the House and Senate return from recess, congressional Democrats are gearing up for a year-end sprint to unify their fractured caucus behind a spending bill that’s crucial to President Joe Biden’s agenda,and make deals on raising the debt limit and government spending to avoid a federal shutdown. The Democratic-controlled House and Senate will have only 10 legislative days to meet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s October 31 deadline to pass both the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a multi-trillion-dollar spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act.

The infrastructure vote was delayed earlier this month amid a standoff between progressives and moderates in the party over the size, scope and priorities of the $3.5 trillion spending bill, which Biden expects to shrink to $2 trillion. Both sides are still yet to agree on a final price tag. Progressive leaders and moderates still need to iron out sticking points in the larger package, including health care expansion, funding to reduce climate change, and limits on the price of prescription drugs.

What happens now? The vote has already been delayed once and, while Pelosi was really clear about the end of October, if certain issues are not resolved, a further delay could be announced later in the week. If that does happen, it will be a particularly busy run-in to Christmas for officials, with January 6 Capitol Riots investigations (mentioned in World in Brief), further debt ceiling wrangling and this infrastructure bill all due before the festive period.

Deeper reading: Infrastructure Bill Live Updates: Democrats Return to Capitol for Showdown Over Multi-trillion Dollar Funding Packages