 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has predictably gone back on her word and she is signaling her intent to decouple the bipartisan infrastructure bill From the reconciliation package as reported on by Heather Kegel and Sarah Ferris of Politico Now this is bad because if the House were to pass the bipartisan infrastructure deal before the Senate votes on the reconciliation package guess what? Progressives lose and conservatives like Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sonoma effectively win because at that point what leverage do progressives have? What point do any Democratic Party officials have at getting those conservatives to actually vote for the reconciliation package? Because those conservative Democrats they only want the corporate giveaways included in the infrastructure package So once they get that they have no reason to vote for the reconciliation package It's the only hope of getting reconciliation through getting all of these really important things through so Nancy Pelosi's move here is a betrayal She lied. She's going back on her word, but Nancy Pelosi is a liar to her core. She's a corporatist to her core So in the event it were the case that the bipartisan Infrastructure package went through but the reconciliation package did not that's not so bad for her because she also Would like to please her donors. So, you know, this isn't necessarily the most surprising thing in the world I think that most people should have anticipated Nancy Pelosi being a traitor Having said that the question is what are progressives going to do about it? And it seems as if there is some reason to be optimistic not necessarily optimistic that the reconciliation package will pass But optimistic that progressives are going to hold strong and not support the bipartisan infrastructure deal If they don't get the reconciliation proposal and Bernie Sanders is telling them do not cave. Hold the line He tweeted out. Let's be crystal clear if the bipartisan infrastructure bill is passed on its own on Thursday This will be in violation of an agreement that was reached within the Democratic caucus in Congress more importantly It will end all leverage that we have to pass a major reconciliation bill That means there will be no serious effort to address the long neglected crises facing the working families of our country The children the elderly the sick and the poor it also means that Congress will continue to ignore the Existential threat to our country and planet with regard to climate change I strongly urge my house colleagues to vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill until Congress Passes a strong reconciliation bill. So Bernie Sanders. Let everyone know don't support this package It doesn't matter what they promise you and what assurances they give you They already showed you that their word is trash Nancy Pelosi. You went back on her word So if you vote on this now Don't expect any victories when it comes to the reconciliation package if anything at all with regard to reconciliation Now, thankfully progressives are holding the line and they deserve a massive amount of credit for that Mike Lillis and Scott Wong of the Hill explain if she were to call the bill It will fail Representative Jan Czakowski a close ally of Pelosi said while leaving a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting Not because the progressive caucus people like me aren't willing to vote for it But we had an agreement that we were going to get these two pieces together quote I've never seen her bring a bill to the floor. That's going to fail She said it will fail if she does Representative Prima Legiapal head of the Progressive Caucus said dozens of liberals are prepared to sing infrastructure in pursuit of the broader package This agenda is not some fringe wish list. It is the president's agenda. She said in a statement Representative Rashida Tlaib a member of the so-called squad of progressive lawmakers of color was harsher She called Pelosi's plan to reverse course and decouple the two bills a betrayal We will hold the line and vote it down fly vowed on Twitter referring to the infrastructure bill This is not the time for half measures or to go back on our promises now after Pelosi announced that she would Likely be delaying the infrastructure vote before she went back on her promise to decouple these bills Ilhan Omar was very clear on Twitter. She says the whip count was right We aren't bluffing when the bills are up in tandem and we will put our votes on the board That's the deal Jamal Bowman shared a statement from progressives in Congress saying we are holding the line and backing up the president's agenda So they're not backing down and this is really really good. They deserve credit if they cave I will criticize them and I'm sure that many leftists will criticize them But for now what they're doing is exactly what they should be doing And I do want to read some of that statement shared by Jamal Bowman from the progressive caucus because it is Encouraging so far. It seems as if they're holding the line It says we just wrapped a meeting of our 96 member caucus and we are clear our position on infrastructure and build back better Remains unchanged. We will not leave anyone behind and the statement reads US representative from a legit Paul chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus issue the following statement following the 96 member coalitions meeting about the outgoing infrastructure and build back better Negotiations we remain fully committed to passing President Biden's entire build back better agenda and delivering the transformative change that people throughout this country Urgently want need and deserve moving forward without the build back better act would put long overdue investments in childcare paid leave Healthcare affordable housing pre-k community college climate action and a roadmap to citizenship for dreamers TPS recipients and essential workers at risk our progressive caucus members remain clear We will not allow this process to be dictated by special interests and corporations at the expense of women working families in our communities We will not leave anyone behind and that is really important. They have to continue to hold strong They're gonna receive criticism from the conservatives in the party and now possibly Democratic Party leadership like Nancy Pelosi They're going to be criticized by members of the media You have done lemon asking Ilhan Omar whether or not they'd be willing to Vote for the bipartisan infrastructure deal now and then revisit the reconciliation package later No, there's gonna be a lot of pressure And if they all hold strong then that makes it easier that makes it less likely that any one individual lawmaker will break So it's very very important that they hold the line and they continue to threaten to tank this bill If they don't get what they want because once you give up the leverage once you give Conservative Democrats like Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin Exactly what they want that give away to their corporate donors, which is included in that bipartisan infrastructure deal That's it. You get nothing. So this really is a pivotal moment for progressive lawmakers Going forward if they hold strong here, they'll actually They'll actually have a lot more power in Congress But if they budge here then they're just gonna get steamrolled again and again and again They're setting the terms going forward because if conservatives in the Democratic Party see that they're willing to cave Then they're not going to be included in future negotiations because they know that these lawmakers are just gonna go along with Whatever the party wants. So now is the time Draw that line of the stand in the sand and don't cross it I'm really proud of them for holding strong, but I hope that they remain committed to the stance. Don't budge Hold the line tank it all Make it all crash and burn if you don't get what you want