Senate Democrats prepare to tweak House reconciliation package

Under a deal Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., struck with centrist Democrats last month, the House is expected to try to resolve major differences between their product and the Senate’s version before voting on the package. The centrists, concerned about political attacks, don’t want to vote on some of the party’s most progressive ambitions that won’t become law.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, held what is expected to be the first of many caucus-wide discussions on the legislative proposals their 12 committees with reconciliation instructions have started putting together. 

Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said some Senate committees, but not all, have met his goal of producing text by Sept. 15, but they all contributed to a PowerPoint presentation used to provide senators a status update during their weekly Tuesday lunch. 

“It took about 35-40 minutes on everything that has been agreed to between House and Senate. That’s eight committees,” Schumer said. “And the four committees where there hasn’t been an agreement we went over the Senate positions.”

Schumer didn’t provide a formal deadline for the Senate to complete its work or resolve differences with the House, but he said “there’s going to be a lot of intense discussions and negotiations over the next few weeks.”