leader i would look at that and say you know what? let s enough house republicans vote for this. lots of republicans like that legislation. let s let enough republicans vote for this that it passes. because we don t mind this bill. it s fairly conservative. it lines up with a lot of conservative priorities. and we can thereby remove all the leverage the progressives have. the larger bill will never pass. the whole debate will be a waste of time for the democrats and we have something to brag about next year for our re-election campaigns in our home states. why is that not a leave possibility? it seems rational to me. i actually had a similar thought, rachel, a few hours ago. why aren t republican leaders providing some votes to pass this infrastructure bill? because that would undercut the goal of house progressives if they do pass this tonight. the progressive position, their fear as you point out, is that if the infrastructure bill passes then centrist democrats in the house and th
workers on their jobs. because of republican resistance to doing that because republicans have been refusing to vote to keep the government running congress really was pushed right up to the edge of the cliff today. it was only at the very last minute they did pass a bill to avoid a government shutdown and president biden has signed it tonight. congress barely kept themselves from tumbling over that cliff. the remarkable thing is in normal times that would be the biggest and most dramatic vote on capitol hill certainly all week definitely all month maybe even more than that. cliff hanger showdown vote keeps u.s. federal government alive with only hours to spare. that s big news in any congress. big news any political year. but this time, the vote to avert a federal government shutdown was not even the most dramatic thing that happened on capitol hill today. it didn t even count as quality drama in congress today. it was like oh, we re not shutting down the government at midnight? okay.
of 70%. the director of one west virginia activist group telling the paper today manchin should rest assured west virginia voters will have his back if he votes for president biden s budget. like his constituents, west virginia voters who kayaked up to his house boat today to plead with him to support the bill, and he did, again, to his credit, have a long back-and-forth with them tonight. so that is one reason the vast majority of democrats in washington are intent on passing the president s agenda and getting it done intact and quickly. it is just superpopular with voters. it is popular in west virginia. it is popular nationwide. it is popular among democrats. it is popular among self-described republicans and conservatives. another reason most democrats want to get this done is they don t want this thing to drag on for months. they certainly don t want to pass the small roads and bridges bill and then watch the larger biden legislation, all of his other economic agenda items for his
events even since i ve just been talking. tonight senator bernie sanders came out of a meeting in chuck schumer s office, told reporters he is urging the house to vote no on the roads and bridges bill tonight, vote no on the infrastructure bill tonight if there is a vote. he said he was unhappy about these late night closed door talks. that seems significant given what a driving force the progressives have been in the house and what a progressive icon senator sanders is not only in the country but to progressive democrats on capitol hill. is that significant? what do we think is going to happen tonight? it is significant, rachel. senator sanders says this is an absurd way to do business. that was a direct quote from him. they re trying to negotiate a multi-trillion-dollar bill in one night to have a vote on the infrastructure bill. he does not believe that bill should go forward to a vote
told that story again. alongside congresswoman lee was congresswoman jayapal and congresswoman bush. they shared their personal stories about choosing to have an abortion. last week the full house passed a bill called the women s health protection act. it would codify the protections established under roe vs. wade guaranteeing the right for american women to have an abortion. the fate of the bill remains an open question in the senate as long as the filibuster exists. there is no reason to be optimistic about the chance of reaching president biden s desk. meanwhile texas s abortion ban is in effect. there is one potential source of hope right now. tomorrow there will be a court hearing in the case the u.s. justice department has brought against the state of texas over the new abortion ban. tomorrow the justice department will argue before a federal judge that that judge should immediately block the law from continuing to be enforced. that would essentially put the whole thing on ice wh