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House Republicans said Thursday they were feeling increasingly confident that President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure and social spending packages would not gain enough support to make it to the president’s desk.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who had originally vowed to hold a House vote by Oct. 31, refused to answer questions by reporters on whether a vote would take place Thursday night.
“They keep pushing the time back on when we’re going to vote on it, which tells me — especially the series we now have — they haven’t got the votes yet,” Small Business Committee ranking member Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer told Fox News.
Republicans have been playing defense all week by hosting roundtables with small businesses and contesting tax proposals from Democrat to help pay for the hefty packages.
But GOP opposition to the president’s cornerstone legislation is not its greatest threat facing the mammoth legislation.
It remains unclear if House Democrats support the trimmed-down social spending bill enough to push it through the lower chamber.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure it doesn’t [pass], because it’s not good for America,” Rep. Fred Keller, R-Penn., told Fox News. “If it were good for America, the speaker wouldn’t have to have so much trouble twisting arms of her own party to get it done.”
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Lawmakers received a revised bill Wednesday night, which Pelosi signaled during a Thursday morning presser was a significant step in getting the bill through the House.
But lawmakers were frustrated by the rush to push a more than 2,000-page bill across the finish line without proper review.
“It’s astonishing that we just got 2,200 pages last night and are expected to vote on it today,” Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne told Fox News. “It’s amazing that they’re trying to throw everything into it. To me, it’s a complete lack of transparency.”
“I guarantee, you ask the average person on the street, they couldn’t tell you ten things — they couldn’t tell you three things in the bill,” she added. “These should be bipartisan bills. We need to have a discussion about them and not just fly them through under the wire in the middle of the night.”
Van Duyne said the package was lacking majority support and expressed doubt that it could survive an upper chamber vote, even if it passes in the House.
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It remains unclear what is included in the revised House bill, but lawmakers remain unconvinced it will pass muster with moderate Democrats in the Senate.
Keller said that ultimately, it will come down to whether Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Az., “hold strong to what they’ve told to the American people for the past several weeks or whether they cave to the pressure of the left side of their party.”