PRESENTED BYBY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN THE TOPHappy Wednesday afternoon from an extraordinarily busy Capitol. This is the rare day where there’s equal action in the House and Senate on President Joe Biden’s signature piece of legislation, the Build Back Better Act. First of all, the House Rules Committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the Build Back Better Act. This is not a markup, we're told; it’s a hearing on the legislation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the session in a “Dear Colleague” to Democrats. Pelosi is clearly trying to jumpstart the process. Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill and in the White House are making progress on a framework agreement for the reconciliation package, although they don’t have a deal yet. A framework agreement could come in the “next several hours,” a Democratic source said. We’ve heard that before, but this time it seems a bit more real. This progress doesn’t mean the reconciliation package is ready to pass, though. It may take some time to finalize the legislative text. In the meantime, Pelosi is trying to get House progressives to go along with a floor vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The deadline for the infrastructure vote is Oct. 31. This a big deal. Pelosi is trying to “decouple” the infrastructure bill from the reconciliation package. For months, she said they were part of a “two-track process” and had to be voted on together. Now Pelosi is essentially saying “Let’s pass the infrastructure bill and trust us on the rest.” Here’s the critical passage from Pelosi’s letter: “At the same time, we are facing a crucial deadline for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework to pass. To do so, we must have trust and confidence in an agreement for the Build Back Better Act.” Read the letter Pelosi just sent to her fellow Democrats:
It’s possible that President Joe Biden will come to the Capitol at some point today. Here’s what you need to be focused on: 1) In the Senate: White House aides Brian Deese, Louisa Terrell and Steve Ricchetti were holed up with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for nearly two hours trying to find a way forward on the reconciliation package. Sinema addressed the press when leaving the meeting. “Doing great, making progress,” she said. That’s about as much as she’s said publicly in several months. The general consensus among Democratic leadership and the White House is that the so-called “billionaire income tax” -- which was formally released to much fanfare this morning -- is already dead, or on very expensive life support. The focus has turned to a surtax on the wealthy Americans, an idea that was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee a month ago. Negotiations are ongoing as to what the surtax will be and at what level. There’s some griping about the tax piece of reconciliation. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said this about leaving the individual tax rate as is: “The irony of a [Democratic president, Democratic Senate, Democratic House] -- if we don’t deal with rates, it implies endorsement of the Trump tax cuts. It’s pretty whacky.” On paid leave: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said she thinks the provision is in trouble. This echoes what Pelosi said. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) vents on everything: “All I'm telling you, is you got the president of the United States supporting an agenda that works for the American people. You got 48 out of 50 people supporting an agenda that works for the American people. You have overwhelming support on the part of the American people to … stand up to powerful special interests and you know what? You got all of that and we've got to stand tough and make sure we deliver for the American people.” 2) In the House: Pelosi is going to have to keep a close watch on the negotiations and decide when she can put the infrastructure bill up for a vote. The Democratic leadership seems to be under the impression that legislative text for the reconciliation package is close to being completed. We just don’t believe this is the case, given the discordant talk we’re hearing from various members of the Senate. Pelosi and House Democratic leadership would ideally like to get the BBB wrapped up this week, have Biden endorse it and then vote on infrastructure by the end of the weekend. Then the House would pick up the BBB and pass it next week, and kick it over to the Senate. PRESENTED BY HCA HEALTHCARE As stewards of the environment, HCA Healthcare takes a proactive approach to protecting the environment by implementing greening hospital practices, promoting conservation, decreasing waste and exercising environmentally conscious purchasing. MERCH DROP! Punchbowl News x Rhoback Vests We love our Premium community and we love merch. We'll be selling a limited edition Punchbowl News x Rhoback Vest for the next 5 days. Buy yours today before they sell out. This is also a good deal -- Rhoback vests typically sell for $130 and we're selling them for $85 (includes shipping). APPROPRIATIONS Democrats want to begin talks on omnibus spending package The chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations panels will begin meeting next week to discuss an omnibus package for the FY 2022 spending bills. Government funding runs out on Dec. 3, and the two sides are billions of dollars apart on their spending demands. House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) initiated the meeting, and the “four corners” -- DeLauro, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) -- have agreed to attend. The session will be held on Tuesday. “I think we can get somewhere,” Leahy said on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t take the time to do it otherwise.” Democrats are seeking billions more for social spending, while Republicans -- joined by some moderate Democrats -- want billions more for defense. GOP leaders have held back on a spending deal as Democrats wrestle with their multi-trillion dollar social spending package. Some Republicans argue privately that they shouldn’t agree to any spending deal if the reconciliation bill passes, forcing the White House to get by on continuing resolutions for the first half of Joe Biden’s presidency. PRESENTED BY HCA HEALTHCARE As a longtime partner of Practice Greenhealth, HCA Healthcare helps focus the organization's sustainability efforts on the healthcare sector's biggest areas of opportunity and risk. → Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) is switching districts to run for the seat formerly held by Rep. Filemon Vela (D-Texas), who is retiring. Here's the two of them together, courtesy of AdImpact. → The National Retail Federation is opposing the reconciliation package on air in the D.C. media market. The organization is out with a minute-long ad that features ‘everyday Americans’ casting doubt on the fiscal responsibility of the multi-trillion dollar package. Here’s the ad, brought to you by AdImpact: CLIP FILE NYT → “An Oath Keeper Was at the Capitol Riot. 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