--- title: House Democrats Are Fighting Over How to Pass Infrastructure description: Both the moderates and the progressives can derail the other camp’s agenda if they don’t get their way on infrastructure. canonical: https://time.com/6092168/house-democrats-pelosi-infrastructure/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-08-23T17:44:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T10:14:50.638Z article:section: Politics og:title: House Democrats Are Fighting Among Themselves on How to Pass Infrastructure og:description: Democrats are playing a game of chicken with themselves. og:url: https://time.com/6092168/house-democrats-pelosi-infrastructure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f69c02a904f15c5/698a1c25d07533a7d6e6be09/democrats-infrastructure-bill-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Biden's Agenda Turns On Pelosi Keeping House Democrats United og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: House Democrats Are Fighting Among Themselves on How to Pass Infrastructure twitter:description: Democrats are playing a game of chicken with themselves. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f69c02a904f15c5/698a1c25d07533a7d6e6be09/democrats-infrastructure-bill-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # House Democrats Are Fighting Among Themselves on How to Pass Infrastructure  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 23, 2021 5:44 PM UTC  The Capitol past an overpass in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021. The Capitol past an overpass in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021.Stefani Reynolds—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 23, 2021 5:44 PM UTC _This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37910b58de73cf3f2b89adc123fac024f0478c72f91010ae9d01f08f46c616068cab3e74726837cd2cce70dac3796e46c2b4) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday._ Legislative standoffs are nothing new at the Capitol. But the scope and scale of the current stalemate among Democrats is as dramatic as it is head-scratching. The House is coming back to Washington this week, cutting short its typical August recess, to start its work on twin proposals that would spend more than $4 trillion on measures including [upgrading](https://time.com/6075659/joe-biden-bipartisan-infrastructure-deal/) roads, funding new [programs](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/opinion/biden-infrastructure-child-care.html) for childhood education and providing a [pathway](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/politics/democrats-budget.html) to citizenship for as many as 8 million new Americans. It’s a massive lift, and it is moving on a two-track path: there is broad bipartisan support for about $550 billion in new spending on things like roads, bridges and Internet connectivity, and fragile backing among only Democrats for about another $3.5 trillion in so-called “soft infrastructure.” But the way the one-two punch has been structured leaves each jab at the risk of missing its mark. A contentious rift between the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic Party could complicate matters, despite House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s insistence that there be “unanimity” inside her caucus. Centrists [are pushing](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/22/reconciliation-can-wait-lets-do-infrastructure-first/) for the House to immediately pick up the bipartisan piece while negotiators work out the details of the bigger-ticket package that cleared the Senate with the understanding the details would come together later. Progressives, meanwhile, [say](https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/08/22/house-democrats-budget-reconciliation/) they’ll give their votes for the bipartisan effort only when the ink on their agenda for the other $3.5 trillion is dry. What has emerged is essentially a double-hostage situation. Democrats at the moment have an eight-seat [advantage](https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown) in the House, meaning they can afford only three defections. (Because there are three vacancies, the typically 435-member House could result in a tie, for which there is no provision to break. Four defections yield a tied vote, which results in failed legislation.) Both the middle and the left can derail the other camp’s agenda if they don’t get their way and both sides say their threat is more than rhetoric. Which is basically a nice way of saying the Democrats are playing a game of chicken with themselves. Pelosi, of course, is a master of her caucus. She understands how to quell an uprising when she needs to. She spent the weekend on the phone with members and the White House trying to figure out a way forward on both pieces. Even more than Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the other side of the Capitol, there is no one in Washington with more of a grip on a party than Pelosi. She has guided her fellow Democrats through far choppier waters with tighter deadlines than a movable target of September. The White House, meanwhile, is placing its faith in her to solve this as President Joe Biden is distracted by [other crises](https://time.com/6091183/afghanistan-war-failure-interview/). Still, the roil is something of a shock. There’s not an obvious way out of this jam for Democrats, who are ostensibly in control of Washington for at least another year. Pelosi allies and detractors alike expect that she’ll find a way to get both sides to an agreement, even if it’s an acrimonious one. After all, the Democrats cut short their time at state fairs, ice cream socials and corn roasts to return to a thoroughly unpleasant, humid city that most flee in August. For them to return to Washington’s summer stew without the promise of a victory seems unlikely. But so is a scenario by which Democrats—all seemingly in the mood to give Biden a much-needed victory amid a [hurricane](https://www.boston.com/weather/weather/2021/08/20/live-updates-henri-weather-forecast-track-boston-massachusetts/?p1=hp%5Ffeaturestack), [war](https://time.com/6091876/angelina-jolie-afghanistan/) and [pandemic](https://time.com/6091211/covid-19-booster-shots/)—implode. Given everything else on the party’s plate, internal squabbling should seem like an easy fix. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/politics?source=dc%5Farticle) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6092168/house-democrats-pelosi-infrastructure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6092168/house-democrats-pelosi-infrastructure/"},"headline":"House Democrats Are Fighting Among Themselves on How to Pass Infrastructure","datePublished":"2021-08-23T17:44:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:14:50.638Z","description":"Both the moderates and the progressives can derail the other camp’s agenda if they don’t get their way on infrastructure.","url":"https://time.com/6092168/house-democrats-pelosi-infrastructure/","keywords":["The D.C. 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