Speaker Pelosi: 'We're on path to win vote'

(30 Sep 2021) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4346544 With President Joe Biden's government overhaul at stake, Democrats charged into trouble Thursday as a promised vote on the first piece, a slimmer $1 trillion public works bill, faltered amid stalled talks on his more ambitious package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assembled her leadership team for an early morning meeting and emerged determined to push ahead, strike a deal with Biden and avoid what would be a high-profile setback if voting on the public works bill fails or has to be scrapped. Democrats are deeply at odds with trust torn, as progressive lawmakers threaten to withhold votes on the roads-and-bridges infrastructure bill they view as insufficient unless it is paired with Biden's broader vision. In the narrowly controlled House, Pelosi has no votes to spare. All this on a day that should be a win for Biden and his party with Congress poised to quickly usher through legislation to keep government running past Thursday's fiscal yearend deadline and avert a federal shutdown that had been threatened by Republican blockades. "Step by step," Pelosi said at the Capitol, suggesting a deal with Biden was within reach. "This is the path — it's not a fork in the road," she said. "This is the fun part." Tensions spiked late Wednesday when Manchin sent out a fiery statement, decrying the broad spending as "fiscal insanity" and warning it would not get his vote without adjustments. Manchin's refusal to bring negotiations with Biden to a close enraged progressive lawmakers and almost ensured they would tank the bipartisan public works bill if there was no end in sight to the White House talks with the centrist senators. Democrats' campaign promises on the line, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington state said after Manchin's statement: "We probably have even more people willing to vote no on the bipartisan bill." In a deepening party split, centrists warned off canceling Thursday's vote as a "breach of trust that would slow the momentum in moving forward in delivering the Biden agenda," said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats. Pelosi indicated she had personally spoken to Manchin — whom she called a friend, a fellow Catholic with shared values — and appeared determined to seal a deal between the centrist senators and Biden that seemed less likely just a day ago. "We are proceeding in a very positive way to bring up the bill ... to do so in a way that can win," Pelosi said. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...