He followed up with private calls to moderate skeptics balking at supporting the social policy bill. Later, Mr. Biden twice phoned Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in an effort to ease passage of the infrastructure measure, and called in to an hourslong meeting of the caucus, where he was placed on speakerphone to make his case for supporting the infrastructure measure. He postponed a planned weekend trip to his home in Delaware as the negotiations stretched into Friday night.
“At a certain point, we have to trust one another,” said Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, as he emerged from the Progressive Caucus meeting.
Liberal Democrats who had demanded that infrastructure measure move in tandem with the social policy bill had indicated that they might oppose the infrastructure measure on its own, dealing Mr. Biden and their leaders an embarrassing defeat. They huddled into the evening on Friday, ordering pizza delivered to the Capitol as they discussed whether to allow the infrastructure measure to proceed.
Ultimately, they did so after winning a painstakingly negotiated written promise from centrists that they would eventually support the social safety and climate measure, once assured of its fiscal impact.
In a statement late Friday night, the centrists declared: “We commit to voting for the Build Back Better Act, in its current form other than technical changes,” as soon as they obtain an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office consistent with White House figures showing that the measure is fully paid for. The group — Representatives Ed Case of Hawaii, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Kathleen Rice of New York and Kurt Schrader of Oregon — said it would do so by the week of Nov. 15.
Two of the holdouts, Representatives Jared Golden of Maine and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, notably did not sign on.
But in her own late-night statement, Ms. Jayapal said it was enough for progressives to allow the infrastructure bill to pass.
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