Pelosi, progressive leader Jayapal meet amid tension on spending, infrastructure bills

WASHINGTON — The leader of the progressive caucus Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday, after threatening to sink an infrastructure bill that is a top Democratic priority.

On Tuesday, Jayapal said her group is willing to vote down the Senate-passed infrastructure bill unless a larger $3.5 trillion spending and tax measure is ready by House Democrats' self-imposed deadline of Sept. 27. Each day it becomes increasingly less likely that the House will meet Jayapal's group's demand and finish the massive spending bill by the 27th.

Jayapal told reporters following the meeting that “half” the 95-member progressive caucus is prepared to vote down the infrastructure bill, unless the larger spending bill passes the Senate.

“We can’t move the other bill forward until we pass reconciliation,” said Jayapal. The meeting lasted roughly 90 minutes.

The two bills are part of a long list of items Congress is trying to juggle this week.

House Democrats are also trying to pass a stopgap spending bill that needs to be approved in the coming weeks to avoid a government shutdown.

On Monday, Democratic leaders announced plans to attach a debt limit extension to the stopgap funding bill, setting up a showdown with Republican senators.

Congress has until Sept. 30 to fund the government or risk a shutdown. The Treasury Department has said the debt limit will be breached sometime in October if it's not lifted, which could disrupt the U.S. economy.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., released the legislation, known as a continuing resolution, on Tuesday o extend funding for federal agencies, including education, health, housing and public safety programs, through Dec. 3.

The House bill includes $28.6 billion to address recent disasters, including Hurricane Ida late last month and from last year's hurricanes Delta, Zeta and Laura, wildfires, severe droughts and winter storms, according to a release.

Separately, $6.8 billion will be provided to support Afghan evacuees, including funds for temporary housing at American facilities and in foreign countries, necessary security screenings, and resettling costs for Afghans settling in the U.S.

"As we take that step today, providing help for people in desperate need is a moral imperative, DeLauro said in a statement.

The continuing resolution would also suspend the debt limit into December 2022, which Senate Republicans are expected to balk over.

"We're left to the CR until December, we're attaching the debt limit piece to keep sanity within the markets," House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said during a press conference Tuesday.

"And if those folks [Republicans] you known have concerns, they should reach out to Senator McConnell and ask what full faith and credit of the United States government means, it seems like Senate Republicans need to answer that."

CORRECTION (Sept. 21, 2021, 12:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the year until which the debt limit will be suspended. It is 2022, not 2020.