House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer did not
give a clear answer on whether the House will take up the infrastructure bill
for voting on Friday whereas Representative
Pramila Jayapal made it clear that there was going to be no vote over the
weekend on the bill.
Hoyer said that President Joe Biden was “passionate” about
passing both bills after the House Democrats held talks with him on the Capitol
hill.
Also Read: Progressives planning to pass stopgap highway funding, but optimistic about infrastructure plan
“We are going to go talk about that right now,” Hoyer said,
when asked about when the vote on the bills might happen, adding that he was headed
to a leadership meeting, CNN reported.
Hoyer just managed a “could be” when he was asked if the
infrastructure vote could be held on Friday itself.
“I have gotten over expecting things; I just take them as
they come,” he added.
Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington state, said after the
meeting that progressive Democrats were going to have to shrink the $3.5
trillion social policy and climate package in their negotiations with moderate
Democrats while adding that it is going to be tough, CNN reported. Jayapal is
the chairperson of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
She said Biden had made it “very clear” that the social
package and the bipartisan infrastructure bill are “tied together”, CNN
reported. Jayapal also said that there
needs to be an agreement on the so-called Build Back Better plan the
infrastructure bill is to be passed.
Also Read: All you need to know about Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan
“He was very clear the two are tied together. But we need to
get this reconciliation bill. And you
know, it is going be tough. We are going to have to come down in our number,
and we are going have to do that work. So we are going to get to work and see
what we can get to. There was no timetable,” Jayapal said, while adding that
the House will not be voting on the packages on Friday or over the weekend.
