House Rules Committee won’t meet Monday on reconciliation package

The House Rules Committee will not convene on Monday to mark up the Democrats’ social spending package, signaling a delay in the process to pass that bill and bipartisan infrastructure legislation, which House Democrats are set to vote on as early as Tuesday.

A leadership aide told Axios in a statement on Sunday the committee needs “additional time to craft language and get final agreement with all parties involved” after the group made “extensive progress” on prescription drugs and other initiatives that were not included in the text released by the committee on Thursday.

The aide, however, said the committee is still planning to vote “as early as possible this week” but did not specify a day. President Biden also said Sunday he expects the vote to happen this week. 

A leadership aide told The Hill on Saturday that committees had until Sunday to make revisions to the text of the social spending bill so the Rules Committee could convene for a mark-up as early as Monday and vote as soon as Tuesday, but that timeline now appears to be off track.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said he was spending the weekend negotiating a deal with Congressional Democrats and White House officials to include the lowering of prescription drug prices in a social spending framework. Politico also reported that various Democrats were discussing the inclusion of prescription drug reform.

Pressure is mounting on Democrats to pass the pair of spending packages in the coming days after House leadership punted a scheduled vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill last week following opposition from progressives, who continue to demand the simultaneous passage of the reconciliation bill.

On Thursday, progressive members said the needed more time to review the recently released text of the bill before making any decisions.

Democratic leadership had hoped to send Biden on his trip to Europe with a deal in hand for his meetings with world leaders at the Group of 20 summit and a United Nations climate change summit. That goal, however, was blocked by the progressive opposition.

The party’s latest goal of Tuesday is the same day Virginians are set to head to the polls to choose their next governor.

The race — between former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and Republican nominee Glenn Youngkin — is neck and neck, according to recent polls, and may serve as a bellwether for next year’s midterm elections.

The Hill reached out to Democratic leadership for more information.