Just about every time there's news about the $1.75 trillion spending bill, it's that there's been another delay. Sure enough, as Jordain Carney reported for The Hill on Sunday morning, "Biden spending bill to likely slip in Senate after House delays." As his headline references, the spending bill had been delayed in the House earlier this month. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had tried to get members to vote before the bill was scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), but received pushback from moderate Democrats.
It's not entirely surprising, then, that the Senate would face the same issue. Democrats may have passed the $1.2 infrastructure bill, with the help of Republicans, and President Joe Biden is set to have a signing ceremony on Monday. The Democrats are still very much in disarray, though. And, as Spencer and I have both covered, it's still negatively affecting Biden in the polls.
Carney indicated the spending bill "appears likely to slip" since the House didn't send it over, and so now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is "likely" moving onto other priorities. Mentioned in Carney's piece is a letter Schumer sent.
As Carney reported:
"Due to the House pushing back consideration of the BBBA to the week of November 15th, it is likely that the Senate considers the NDAA this upcoming week as we await House passage of the BBBA," Schumer wrote in the letter referring to the Build Back Better Act (BBBA).
Though the defense bill passed out of committee over the summer, when it could come the Senate floor has been in limbo as Democrats tried to figure out the timing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August, and the social and climate spending bill.
Schumer didn't say when the Senate will take up Biden's Build Back Better legislation. The House had hoped to pass the bill before Congress left for a one-week congressional recess, but instead punted with House moderates saying they wanted more information from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) included consideration of the bill on the upcoming week's House floor schedule.
With the processes involved, it looks like the bill really is going to stretch far into the rest of what short time remains this year:
Schumer had previously said that once the House passed the bill, the Senate would need roughly a week to make sure it complied with Senate budget rules. Congress is poised to leave town after this week for a one-week Thanksgiving break and return on Nov. 29.
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But if the Senate's timing on the social spending bill slips past Thanksgiving, it runs into other looming deadlines including funding the government. The Senate is scheduled to be in session until Dec. 13 but Schumer urged senators to "keep your schedule flexible for the remainder of the calendar year."
"I am confident we can get each of these important items done this year, but it will likely take some long nights and weekends," he said.
The majority leader may claim to be "confident," but time is ticking. Congress also "likely" has to pass a stop-gap continuing resolution (CR), as Schumer acknowledged, by December 3 in order to keep the government funded. That's just a few weeks away.
Besides the disunity in the House, moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have been using their leverage to get what they want out of the spending bill, and have caused quite the headache for the rest of their party.
No Republicans are expected to vote for the bill, which is why Democrats need all 50 members in the Senate to be on board.
As Carney also mentioned in his piece, Schumer has been in talks with the Senate parliamentarian to make clear what can be included in the reconciliation spilling so that it can pass the Senate with a simple majority.