I'm Still Skeptical

On September 29,. Roll Call ran this headline: Infrastructure vote still on despite reconciliation stalemate

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Wednesday that the House will move ahead with a Thursday vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, despite massive uncertainty that Democrats can pass it.

“The plan is to bring the bill to the floor,” the California Democrat told reporters after she and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Asked whether she would have the votes needed to pass it, Pelosi promised nothing.

“One hour at a time,” she said.

On September 24, this story ran on Geen Wire: Pelosi confirms vote ‘next week’ on reconciliation package

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed today she’ll bring a multitrillion-dollar reconciliation bill to the chamber floor next week that makes major investments in combating the climate crisis.

The California Democrat’s announcement could end the intraparty standoff over the fate of a separate, $1 trillion infrastructure bill on Monday, Sept. 27. Moderates say that measure needs to be voted on by that date, but progressives said they’d tank it if they don’t have a reconciliation bill to vote on with it.

But it’s still not clear what, exactly, the House will be voting on next week, as negotiations with the Senate continue over key policy provisions as well as the current, $3.5 trillion top line.

A month later, we're getting deja vu all over again: Pelosi on Trillion Dollar Spending Bill: 'I Think We Are Pretty Much There Now'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced on Sunday that Democrats would reach an agreement this week on President Joe Biden's proposed spending bill.

"We have 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made," Pelosi said, according to The Hill.

When asked if a deal could be struck before Biden leaves for Europe on Friday, Pelosi replied, "I think we are pretty much there now," adding that the scaled-back plan, scheduled for Oct. 31, is still set.

As of yesterday,

Deadline driven, President Joe Biden brought two pivotal senators to his Delaware home Sunday for talks aimed at resolving the disputes that have stymied the Democrats’ wide-ranging social safety net and environmental measure at the core of his domestic agenda.

Beyond the domestic timetable, Biden is pressing for progress so he can spotlight his administration’s achievements to world leaders at overseas summits that get underway this week.

. . . The White House said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., came to Biden’s home in Wilmington, where he was spending the weekend, for the session but did not immediately provide a statement detailing what was discussed.

Indeed. We're seeing the exact same pattern we had last month, with Speaker Pelosi giving happy talk about what's going to happen tomorrow or next week, while the one key player, Sen Manchin, is keeping quiet. So why do the Sunday talks keep letting her get away with this over and over?

Meanwhile,

Pelosi appeared surprised when CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper asked about whether she would run again for her congressional seat, which she has held since 1987.

“I do want to ask about your own future in Congress. Are you going to run for reelection?” Tapper asked.

“Oh, you think I’m going to make an announcement right here and now?” she responded.

As someone once said, she's a highly overrated person. It's harder and harder to keep the secret. I also get the sense Sen Manchin detests President Biden, but that's another story.