Throughout the week, President Biden met with both Democratic progressives and moderates as he sought to push the party’s two competing factions toward an agreement, with separate meetings with each group. Democrats have set October 31st as their internal deadline to come to an agreement on how to scale-down the reconciliation package, which would pave the way for the House to clear a separate bipartisan infrastructure package. Included in the bipartisan infrastructure package is a reauthorization of the “Highway Bill,” and if an agreement is not reached by the deadline, lawmakers will be forced to act on a second extension of highway and transit programs to avoid another lapse in authorization. Without an assurance of long-term funding for future road and bridge projects, some state officials have expressed concern about costly and disruptive delays to various projects. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said in a “dear colleague” letter last week that the House is aiming to consider the infrastructure and reconciliation bills during “this work period,” however the letter failed to set a date for a vote. The current stopgap measure is the 16th short-term highway extension since 2009.
