Joe Biden Cancels Weekend Trip Home to Delaware as He Struggles to Find Votes
President Joe Biden canceled his planned trip home to Delaware on Friday evening, after it was clear that he did not yet have the votes to get his agenda passed in the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) continues wrestling with the leftist House progressive caucus of Democrats to persuade them to support the president’s agenda, and the president continues trying to lobby for more votes.
This is the third time that House Democrat leadership has tried to get Biden’s agenda passed, as leftists demanded a multitrillion-dollar entitlement bill pass before they would vote for his infrastructure bill. Two other attempts by House leadership in recent weeks have failed.
But leftists remained stubbornly opposed, signaling they were not interested in supporting the infrastructure deal by itself. Moderate House Democrats remain uneasy about supporting the entitlement bill until it has been solidified and scored by the Congressional Budget Office.
Biden called in to a Congressional Progressive Caucus meeting, according to reports, and was placed on speakerphone to make a pitch to members to support the infrastructure bill by itself. About 20 House leftists remain unwilling to budge, despite the president’s pleading.
Biden demanded Friday morning that House Democrats vote his agenda through Congress “right now” — even as he planned to leave later in the day for Delaware.
“I’m asking every House member, member of the House of Representatives, to vote yes on both these bills, right now,” Biden said during a speech about the economy. “Send the infrastructure bill to my desk. Send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate.”
