Congress avoids government shutdown but infrastructure battle looms

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, a progressive, harshly criticized moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's proposed spending limit today, suggesting he opposed Democrats' larger ambition because he would not personally benefit from it.

"This is absolutely absurd," said Bush, responding to Manchin's stated limit on a the price tag for Democrats' plans to expand the social safety net.

Bush went on to attack Manchin, suggesting he opposed Democrats $3.5 trillion proposal because he himself would not benefit from the government spending. 

"The fact that one person who is not affected by what would come out of this Build Back Better Act, he's not affected by it personally, but the people in our communities all across this country are," she said. "They deserve a voice."

"It is unconscionable that he can stand puffed-up and hold the line on something that hurts people now and to say that 'I'll toss you some crumbs right now and then hopefully you can say you ate,' it's not good enough, and I won't stand for it," she added.

The Senate just voted to pass a short-term funding bill to keep the government open past midnight tonight.

The stopgap funding bill will avert a government shutdown and keep the government funded through early December.

The bill next heads to the House, which is also expected to approve the measure.

How we got here: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Wednesday evening that an agreement had been reached, paving the way for a Thursday vote in the chamber on a continuing resolution, which keeps the government funded at current levels for a set time period.

Congressional Democrats initially attempted to address the government funding issue alongside the debt limit, a strategy that was thwarted by Republicans in the Senate who have insisted that Democrats must act alone on the debt limit.

CNN's Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav contributed reporting to this post. 

In a new statement, key moderate Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s office says that she has shared her concerns about the spending bill — including dollar figures — directly with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House, calling claims that she has not detailed her views to Biden and Schumer “false.” 

The statement continues: “Like our bipartisan infrastructure bill, the proposed budget reconciliation package reflects a proposal of President Biden’s — and President Biden and his team, along with Senator Schumer and his team, are fully aware of Senator Sinema’s priorities, concerns, and ideas. While we do not negotiate through the press — because Senator Sinema respects the integrity of those direct negotiations — she continues to engage directly in good-faith discussions with both President Biden and Senator Schumer to find common ground."

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told reporters that half of her caucus is still committed to voting against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, if the larger spending bill is not passed by both chambers.

"We've been clear that we are ready to vote for both bills and deliver the entirety of the President's agenda," she said.

Jayapal noted that that House members are ready to "stay here all weekend" to see if a deal can be reached, if a consensus cannot be reached today.

"If we can't, then, you know, then we'll have to continue to work on it until we do," she said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, another key progressive, weighed in as well, responding to moderate Sen. Joe Manchin's comments about the need for more Democrats to be elected to pass the $3.5 trillion spending package proposal. Manchin said his top line is $1.5 trillion.

"I think the other piece that, you know, I know the chairwoman has repeated and it keeps getting lost, is that this is not a Progressive agenda. We are fighting for the build back better agenda which is the President's agenda, So if the senator thinks electing more Democrats is how you get it done, then that is something he should state to the President because this is the President's agenda," Omar said.

The Senate is voting now on a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown and keep the government funded through early December.

Schumer said earlier today that he’s “confident the House will approve this measure later this afternoon and send it to the President's desk before funding runs out” at midnight tonight.

Rep. Jared Huffman, a member of the Progressive Caucus who met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today, said nothing really changed during the meeting, which he described as “constructive.” 

Huffman did not join the gaggle with reporters and Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

Huffman was asked about some of the statements moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin made during his gaggle earlier about how he’s not a liberal and how if progressives want a bigger reconciliation bill, they should “elect more liberals.” 

“Well, that's certainly not helpful. And if anything, you know, some of those statements really do validate the position that we have taken that we need rock-solid ironclad assurance that the Build Back Better Act is going to happen. Sen. Manchin is not helping the situation with that,” he said. 

Rep. Henry Cuellar, a moderate Democrat from Texas who was part of the group of 10 pushing for a vote by Sept. 27 for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, told reporters if there isn’t a vote it means Democrats “cannot govern.”

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a key moderate, said that fellow lawmakers — and President Biden — have known that his top line for the spending bill has been $1.5 trillion, not the proposed $3.5 trillion.

Manchin said he has shared his top line with the President "in the last week or so," and that Biden "would like to have a lot more than that."

"The $1.5 [trillion] was always done from my heart, basically what we could do and not jeopardize our economy," he said.

Manchin made clear an agreement would take a lot of time to reach. He also said he's been consistent, defending his position and making clear he's no liberal.

He also wouldn't explicitly say that he won't support more than $1.5 trillion, despite repeated efforts by reporters to press him on it, but said that's the position he's been in since this summer. He said that $1.5 trillion would be raised by changes he supports to the 2017 Trump tax cuts, including taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

CNN's Manu Raju asked Manchin repeatedly if his absolute top line was $1.5 trillion, but Manchin demurred. When asked what he'd say to people who feel he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, another key moderate, are holding up the legislation, he said:

Manchin said he hasn't had conversations about bridging the gap between $3.5 trillion and $1.5 trillion. "People pretty much know where I've been all along," he said.

When asked if he'd talk with Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, he said he'd be "happy to sit down and talk with everybody." Progressives have said they will not vote on the infrastructure bill until they strike a deal on the spending bill, and they want the bill to be passed in tandem with infrastructure.

Some more background on Manchin's figure: A Senate Democratic aide confirms to CNN the authenticity of a document from this summer obtained by Politico that shows more detail about what Manchin may want from a social safety net bill. CNN has not yet obtained the document.

The document lays out that Manchin wanted a top line around $1.5 trillion and he did not want to begin debate until Oct. 1. Another condition was that Manchin wanted to block any of the funds from the reconciliation bill from going out until all the Covid-relief money was exhausted.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy expressed confidence during his weekly press conference that a “majority” and “overwhelming” number of House Republicans would oppose the bipartisan infrastructure bill, following an intense whipping operation from GOP leaders. 

When pressed on why so many Republicans in the Senate, but not the House, were willing to support the bill, McCarthy called it a “different time, different place” and blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi for trying to link the legislation to reconciliation — even though that is something progressives had pushed for even before the bill came over to the House.

McCarthy did signal he would be open to a stopgap measure to fund highway transportation programs, which expire today, but slammed Democrats for careening from “crisis” to “crisis.”

On the debt ceiling, McCarthy said he would oppose changing the process so that Congress doesn’t have to vote on it every single time.