The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate return this week in full from their summer recess, with congressional leaders rushing to meet critical deadlines to advance President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislative agenda. Prior to their return to Washington, D.C., members of several House committees had been meeting via teleconference to develop their individual pieces of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package that, by rule, cannot be blocked by a Senate filibuster. Senate Democrats (including the two Independents that caucus with the Democrats) can pass the reconciliation bill without Republican votes, provided all 50 support the reconciliation measure. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced their portion of the bill containing revenue-raising measures that will be subject to further negotiations before a final bill is voted on by the House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had originally promised progressives in the Democratic caucus that she would not hold a vote on a Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill until work on the larger reconciliation bill was completed and accepted by Senate Democrats. However, a group of centrist and moderate Democrats led by Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) extracted a commitment from Speaker Pelosi to begin floor vote proceedings on the infrastructure bill on Sept. 27. In addition to the reconciliation package and the infrastructure bill, the House and Senate must also deal with legislation to raise the national debt limit, as well as passing a continuing resolution before Oct. 1 to fund the federal agency operations and prevent a government shutdown.

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