Clip of ‘furious’ Pelosi at congressional ball game goes viral as Biden agenda hangs in the balance

The pressure of the partisan standoffs within the Democrats over key pieces of legislative agenda was visible at an annual baseball game on Wednesday as a clip of a Nancy Pelosi, who seemed to be working through the game, went viral.

Seated in the front row at National Stadium, the House speaker was caught on cameras in a seemingly intense telephone conversation during the annual charity game played by members of Congress and traditionally attended by staff of both parties.

Republicans beat the Democrats 13-12, in the annual baseball contest which typically raises over $1mn in charity. The bipartisan traditions that began in 1909, was also attended by president Joe Biden, who received a mix of cheers and boos from Democratic and Republican sides.

The game came hours before a potential showdown over the crucial infrastructure bill, with social media rife with speculations about the conversation that kept Ms Pelosi busy on phone.

While some hailed her as the “hardest working woman”, others guessed that she was working to collate the much-needed votes on the budget reconciliation package.

On Wednesday, the top Democrats were racing to keep alive negotiations over the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package and the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which face a risk of failure due to a standoff between progressive and moderate Democrats over the size of the reconciliation package.

President Joe Biden appeared unable to strike an agreement with senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who are trying to trim the potentially historic $3.5 trillion measure. The package includes providing universal pre-kindergarten education, paid family and medical leave, home and community-based care for elderly people and people with disabilities.

With no votes to spare, and Republicans solidly opposed, the measure will collapse without the support of the two lawmakers who are key to breaking the stalemate. Senator Manchin appears to have issues surrounding the spending plans and the policies related to climate change, which have a bearing on his coal-centric state of West Virginia.

He wants the aid to be extended to Americans based on their income needs and not universally to everyone, a person familiar with the private talks told Associated Press. Though Senator Sinema has been less vocal about her views in the media, her concerns are mainly around the issue of taxation that could make the US less competitive overseas and potentially impact small business owners.

“I cannot — and will not — support trillions in spending or an all-or-nothing approach,” said senator Manchin in a fiery statement late Wednesday as he decried “fiscal insanity” and threatened to pull out his support without adjustments made to the package.

But the statement has further enraged progressives who threatened to vote against the $1 trillion measure unless there is movement on the broader social policy plan.

“Look, this is why we’re not voting for that bipartisan bill until we get agreement on the reconciliation bill. It’s clear we’ve got a ways to go,” Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said after Mr Manchin’s statement. “I tell you, after that statement, we probably have even more people willing to vote ‘no’ on the bipartisan bill.”

Ms Pelosi, who had scheduled a vote on the infrastructure plan for Thursday, told reporters that they are taking it “one step at a time”.

Other Democrats have, however, advised that the bill not be put on the floor to vote. “My advice is to never put a vote on the floor that we can’t pass,” representative Dan Kildee was quoted as saying by Politico. While the planned infrastructure spending bill passed the Senate last month in a 69-30 vote, receiving the support of all 50 Democrats and 19 Republicans, the reconciliation bill has not been passed in either of the Houses.

Meanwhile, Congress is faced with another crisis, as the Republicans have declined to approve legislation to keep the government funded past 30 September. The Senate is poised to vote on Thursday on government funding to avert the possible government shutdown and keep it temporarily going till 3 December.

Additional reporting from the wires