But if anything, the prospect of losses deepened the divisions imperiling both pillars of the Mr. Biden’s agenda. House leaders started the day aim
But if anything, the prospect of losses deepened the divisions imperiling both pillars of the Mr. Biden’s agenda. House leaders started the day aiming for votes to advance the social policy bill and clear the infrastructure measure — the largest investment in the nation’s aging public works in a decade — for his signature.
But by midday, their efforts had stalled as a 15-minute House vote dragged on more than seven hours — a record, lawmakers said, for the longest vote in the chamber — as Ms. Pelosi toiled to line up support. Republicans, united in opposition to the social policy bill and gleeful over the chaos, forced additional procedural votes to further derail the process.
“Where are the Democrats today?” said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader. “Breaking their own rules, setting new records just keeping votes open, and trying to intimidate and bully their own members to vote for something.”
The delay felt painfully familiar to Democratic lawmakers and Mr. Biden, who have tried and failed twice in the past several weeks to push the pair of bills through the House, only to see their plans impeded by internal divisions. Yet there was little indication that the personal outreach from Mr. Biden and House leaders had resolved the deep mistrust between the ideological factions of the party.
At least four House Democrats — Representatives Jared Golden of Maine, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Ed Case of Hawaii and Stephanie Murphy of Florida — were demanding an official cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office before voting on the social safety net package. That would be enough Democrats to derail the legislation if, as expected, every Republican opposed it.
Democratic leaders tried to use an analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and a White House analysis of the spending costs to win over the holdouts, to no avail. Top White House aides were seen entering Ms. Pelosi’s office as party leaders struggled to win over the moderates.
“It’s a very difficult task, and we’re working on it,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, as he brushed away questions Friday about whether Democrats would have the necessary votes.
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