Following a day of negotiations, setbacks and delays, House Democratic leaders are expected to push forward a vote on a $1 trillion package of road and other infrastructure projects on Friday night.
The vote is expected to begin at 9 p.m. ET. Watch the vote in the player above
Earlier in the day, top Democrats abruptly postponed an expected House vote Friday on a 10-year, $1.85 trillion social and environment measure, as leaders’ long struggle to balance demands from progressives and moderates once again dogged the pillar of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda.
In a bid to hand him a needed victory, leaders prepared to try pushing the accompanying legislation on infrastructure through the chamber and to his desk.
With lawmakers set to leave town for a week’s break, the scrambled legislative plans cast a fresh pall over a party that has tried futilely for weeks to find middle ground on its massive package of health, education, family and climate change initiatives. That’s been hard, in part because the Democrats’ slender majorities mean they need the support of every Senate Democrat and can have no more than three defectors in the House.
The party’s congressional leaders had hoped for House approval of both that measure and the infrastructure bill on Friday. That would have produced twin triumphs for a president and party eager to rebound from this week’s deflating off-year elections and show they can govern.
This is a developing story and will be updated.