(Bloomberg) -- Progressives Democrats in the House aren’t satisfied that an emerging framework for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda gives them the details they need to clear the way for a vote on a $550 billion roads and bridges bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi emerged from a meeting with Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal hopeful that progressives would back the infrastructure package as the outline of a deal begins to emerge on the larger tax and spending package.
Jayapal, of Washington, told reporters she doesn’t want a framework, she wants a bill. She added dozens of progressives have the same stance.
“A mere framework is not enough,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said Tuesday. “We need to have a vote ready for the Build Back Better plan, not a framework. We want to have both of these votes together.”
Amid demands from moderates, Democrats are paring down an economic plan that was originally expected to have a price tag of $3.5 trillion. The new package will be worth less than $2 trillion.
Pelosi said she hoped for votes on the package, named the Build Back Better Act, and the infrastructure bill this week that progressives have been holding out support for until a vote is held on the larger tax and spending plan. But with so many details still to be worked on on the larger plan, having legislation ready for a vote appeared unlikely.
However, when asked about Jayapal’s comment that a framework is not enough, Pelosi said, “Well, I think it is.”
Representative Cori Bush of Missouri replied in a tweet to Pelosi’s comments, “It’s not enough for me. And there are more of us.”
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