is a different question from whether we can afford the infrastructure plan in this particular case. with us to share the reporting and their insights, our panel. all right. the senate is back in session today. this is amendment week. chuck schumer wants to get this done by thursday or friday. everything appears as if it will happen. is there a but? definitely. thursday or friday is lightning speed for the u.s. senate. you saw over the weekend where they had to write the bill 2702 pages is the final tally. that took from wednesday when they announced the bill until last night around 7:30, 8:00. that s how long it took to write the bill. they have to go through amendments. it s going to be a while. there are parliamentary things. they can stretch this out into saturday or sunday if he wants to do so. but i think they re on target to
there s all the talk in the last administration about whether you would get big deals. they never materialized. in this case, you can say that biden is someone who wants to try to make a deal. and that s a big deal for this congress, because at this point, it s like can t congress solve the problems that face the country and often the answer is no. but in this case, they re trying to make a difference. for now. i m going to call this there s a risk that the senate infrastructure bill could become a participation trophy in the sense that the senate could pass it. if the democrats don t figure out in their family everything else, a reconciliation bill, a sweeping spending plan, a moderate in the senate and a progressive in the house not on the same page, maybe democrats are saying where s the rest of it? you can t guarantee anybody, and i have not guaranteed anybody on any of the pieces of legislation. would you like to do more? yeah. you should do what you can pay for. no quid pro
reconciliation in the bill in the house and in the senate does not pass the reconciliation bill, we will uphold our part of the bargain until we get the investments. the two polls of the democratic congress in today s caucus right there on cnn. look, i think that they can find the votes to get 50 for the second bill which is all they need under the reconciliation rules. after they trim it some. i don t think mamplgen and cinema are going to vote for a $3.5 trillion bill. it will have to come down and take a haircut. the bigger question is with the house. that s going to be pelosi s perhaps biggest task of her career and the speakership. can she find the votes to move both of these bills? keep in mind, given the special election that took place in texas, she has a three vote majority in the house. there are a few members who are going to be uneasy about spending this much money, including those who voted against the stimulus bill back in march. so not a lot of room to play with. but
sides. there are moderates, sench riss who say maybe you use the term give it a haircut. a lot of progressives say it s too small. can the democrats, senator schumer s challenge this week. then it moves over to speaker pelosi. schumer has the reconciliation part. biden is the leader of the party. can they figure this out? i wouldn t typically vote against pelosi. we know she s good at getting her caucus in line. but it is going to be tricky. she is going to have moderates that want her to call them back from recess when this senate bill passes. they want to vote on it first. they don t they also like manchin don t want to see it tethered to the reckon stilluation bill. but pelosi has said that she is committed to not passing it before reconciliation. how she maneuvers or uses the august recess to her advantage is something that we re going to have to keep an eye on. a key point, one of the ways you make the progressives happy is show them you re trying on priorities.