

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.


Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks alongside fellow progressive lawmakers after meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on October 19, 2021. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
U.S. House progressives led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush dug in their heels Tuesday as right-wing Democrats attempted to salvage a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill while sidelining the more ambitious Build Back Better package championed by the party's left wing and President Joe Biden until after the weaker bipartisan legislation is passed.
"It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
Bloomberg reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democratic leadership insisted that a framework agreement on the budget reconciliation bill would be sufficient for lawmakers to proceed with a separate vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation delayed by progressives earlier this month over concerns that their $3.5 trillion package would be sacrificed.
CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju tweeted that after Pelosi "pushed back on progressives' demands" that a "larger bill must pass [the] House first before they agree to vote for infrastructure," Jayapal (D-Wash.) asserted that a framework was unacceptable.
"Our members don't want to do that," Jayapal said of the Congressional Progressive Caucus she chairs.
Pressed if she would vote against the infrastructure bill absent anything more than a framework on the larger bill, Jayapal told Raju that "at this point, there are dozens of our members who are in that place."
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agreed with Jayapal, telling Bloomberg that "a mere framework is not enough."
"We need to have a vote ready for the Build Back Better plan, not a framework," she insisted. "We want to have both of these votes together."
A resolute Bush (D-Mo.) also dismissed talk of a framework agreement, tweeting simply, "It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
The impasse came as Bloomberg and others reported Democratic leadership is working to reduce the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill favored by the president and progressives to less than $2 trillion.
Some progressives took aim at right-wing, corporate-backed Democrats--namely, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)--who have relentlessly worked to shrink the size and scope of the reconciliation package.
Related Content

"I'm pissed off, man," fumed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in an interview with CNN about Manchin's outsized influence in an evenly split Senate. "It's just unacceptable to me that one person from one state can have all this power."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
U.S. House progressives led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush dug in their heels Tuesday as right-wing Democrats attempted to salvage a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill while sidelining the more ambitious Build Back Better package championed by the party's left wing and President Joe Biden until after the weaker bipartisan legislation is passed.
"It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
Bloomberg reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democratic leadership insisted that a framework agreement on the budget reconciliation bill would be sufficient for lawmakers to proceed with a separate vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation delayed by progressives earlier this month over concerns that their $3.5 trillion package would be sacrificed.
CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju tweeted that after Pelosi "pushed back on progressives' demands" that a "larger bill must pass [the] House first before they agree to vote for infrastructure," Jayapal (D-Wash.) asserted that a framework was unacceptable.
"Our members don't want to do that," Jayapal said of the Congressional Progressive Caucus she chairs.
Pressed if she would vote against the infrastructure bill absent anything more than a framework on the larger bill, Jayapal told Raju that "at this point, there are dozens of our members who are in that place."
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agreed with Jayapal, telling Bloomberg that "a mere framework is not enough."
"We need to have a vote ready for the Build Back Better plan, not a framework," she insisted. "We want to have both of these votes together."
A resolute Bush (D-Mo.) also dismissed talk of a framework agreement, tweeting simply, "It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
The impasse came as Bloomberg and others reported Democratic leadership is working to reduce the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill favored by the president and progressives to less than $2 trillion.
Some progressives took aim at right-wing, corporate-backed Democrats--namely, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)--who have relentlessly worked to shrink the size and scope of the reconciliation package.
Related Content

"I'm pissed off, man," fumed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in an interview with CNN about Manchin's outsized influence in an evenly split Senate. "It's just unacceptable to me that one person from one state can have all this power."
U.S. House progressives led by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush dug in their heels Tuesday as right-wing Democrats attempted to salvage a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill while sidelining the more ambitious Build Back Better package championed by the party's left wing and President Joe Biden until after the weaker bipartisan legislation is passed.
"It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
Bloomberg reports House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and congressional Democratic leadership insisted that a framework agreement on the budget reconciliation bill would be sufficient for lawmakers to proceed with a separate vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation delayed by progressives earlier this month over concerns that their $3.5 trillion package would be sacrificed.
CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju tweeted that after Pelosi "pushed back on progressives' demands" that a "larger bill must pass [the] House first before they agree to vote for infrastructure," Jayapal (D-Wash.) asserted that a framework was unacceptable.
"Our members don't want to do that," Jayapal said of the Congressional Progressive Caucus she chairs.
Pressed if she would vote against the infrastructure bill absent anything more than a framework on the larger bill, Jayapal told Raju that "at this point, there are dozens of our members who are in that place."
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) agreed with Jayapal, telling Bloomberg that "a mere framework is not enough."
"We need to have a vote ready for the Build Back Better plan, not a framework," she insisted. "We want to have both of these votes together."
A resolute Bush (D-Mo.) also dismissed talk of a framework agreement, tweeting simply, "It's not enough for me. And there are more of us."
The impasse came as Bloomberg and others reported Democratic leadership is working to reduce the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill favored by the president and progressives to less than $2 trillion.
Some progressives took aim at right-wing, corporate-backed Democrats--namely, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)--who have relentlessly worked to shrink the size and scope of the reconciliation package.
Related Content

"I'm pissed off, man," fumed Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in an interview with CNN about Manchin's outsized influence in an evenly split Senate. "It's just unacceptable to me that one person from one state can have all this power."