January 1, Democrats at odds over Biden agenda

Democratic legislators are persisting with their strategy to advance President Joe Biden’s agenda next week: daring a group of centrists within their party to object and risk derailing hoards of cash slated to go towards infrastructure projects and social programs.

During a private conference call on Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) strongly urged Democrats to vote to allow Democrats to move forward on their $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the $1.2 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure package, and a voting rights bill named for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).

“Remember the psychology of consensus. We are in this together, we have the leader of our party and we are pursuing the attainment of that agenda on behalf of the people, for the people,” Hoyer said.

Centrist Democrats think these measures should be passed one at a time rather than all at once. Nine moderate House Democrats, led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), are vowing to defeat the budget resolution unless leadership immediately calls a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package passed through the Senate last week.

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• Democrats play game of chicken over Biden agenda