Budget clash pits moderate Democrats against Biden, Pelosi

WASHINGTON (AP) — Outnumbered and with their party's most powerful leaders arrayed against them, nine moderate Democrats trying to upend plans for enacting President Joe Biden's multitrillion-dollar domestic program face a House showdown.

All the rebellious group must do to prevail is outmaneuver the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and numerous progressive colleagues who've stood firmly against them. That's no small task.

The House meets Monday in what Democratic leaders hope will be just a two-day interruption of lawmakers' August recess. They want quick approval of a budget resolution setting up future passage — maybe this fall — of legislation directing $3.5 trillion at safety net, environment and other programs over the next decade.

That huge measure, largely financed with tax increases on the rich and big business, comprises the heart of Biden's vision for helping families and combating climate change and is progressives' top priority.

The moderates have threatened to oppose the budget resolution unless the House first approves a $1 trillion, 10-year package of road, power grid, broadband and other infrastructure projects that's already passed the Senate. With unanimous Republican opposition expected to the fiscal blueprint, moderates' nine votes would be more than enough to sink it in the narrowly divided House.

The moderates want Congress to quickly send the bipartisan infrastructure measure to Biden so he can sign it before the political winds shift. That would nail down a victory they could tout in their reelection campaigns next year.

“The House can't afford to wait months or do anything to risk passing" the infrastructure bill, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said Friday. He's a leader of the nine moderate mavericks who each released statements reaffirming their desire that the...