This week, Democrats have demonstrated that they are in total disarray––and we could be watching the complete unraveling of the radical Biden agenda.

There’s a lot at stake, and understanding the moving parts is key to defeating Biden’s socialist agenda.

There were four key spending & budget related items being that were at play on Capitol Hill this week:

1. Raising the Debt Limit so Democrats can pay for their agenda.
2. Funding the federal government with a Continuing Resolution (CR).
3. A Trillion-Dollar ‘Infrastructure’ Bill without much infrastructure.
4. A $3.5 Trillion tax, borrow and spending bill to fund the progressive agenda.

These issues are not resolved, and will continue to play out over the coming weeks and months.

1. Debt Limit

According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. government will run out of money by October 18 and begin defaulting on the debt unless Congress authorizes more borrowing.

Congress can do one of two things to avoid a default––pass a debt limit suspension or pass a debt limit increase. What’s the difference?

• Debt limit suspension: gives Congress a blank check to spend as much as they want (and add it to the national debt) until a chosen future date, when the suspension ends.
• Debt limit increase: raises the debt ceiling to a fixed dollar amount, which allows the government to borrow additional money up to that limit.

Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress. If they want to, they can increase the debt limit on their own through a process called reconciliation (more on that later—but for now, know that reconciliation is not subject to the 60-vote filibuster, so Democrats can use it to pass legislation without a single Republican vote).

Democrats would prefer a debt limit suspension for two reasons:

• It’s a blank check with no limit.
• It avoids the negative headlines that come with a multi-trillion debt limit increase which would specifically state a fixed number.

A debt limit suspension is less transparent, and transparency does not help a Congress with a spending addiction.

Current state of play: Keep reading—the Democrats tried to pass a debt limit suspension this week, but failed. They may have to settle with trying for a debt limit increase. But they will surely try to resolve the situation before October 18.

2. Continuing Resolution (CR)

Thursday, October 1, 2021 marked the first day of Fiscal Year 2022 for the federal government. Going into this week, Congress still hadn’t passed legislation to fund the federal government, setting up a possible government shutdown on October 1.

The House had passed a continuing resolution (CR) that would temporarily fund the government through December 3, 2021 at the same spending levels as last year.

But Speaker Pelosi had also attached a provision to the CR to suspend the debt limit until December 2022 (this would have been a blank for Biden’s socialist agenda).

Fortunately, Senate Republicans did not take the bait, and voted down the combined proposal.

So as of Monday night, there was still no funding for the federal government starting on October 1.

Some Democrats briefly considered letting a government shutdown happen and then trying to blame it on Republicans— but with Democrats controlling the House, the Senate, and the White House, the American people were never going to blame the GOP.

On Thursday, the House and Senate passed a new, “clean” CR without the debt limit suspension. President Biden signed the new CR into law Thursday night, averting the looming shutdown.

Democrats could’ve passed this “clean” CR all along, but instead they tried to play games and trick Republicans into voting for a blank check via a debt limit suspension.

Kudos to Senate Republicans for not playing into Democrats’ hands.

Current state of play: The spending fight is not over—negotiations and backroom dealing will continue until the new deadline: December 3, 2021.

3. A $3.5 Trillion tax, borrow and spending bill

For most legislation you need the support of 60 Senators to pass it in the Senate.

But there is a parliamentary tool, called reconciliation, to bypass the 60-vote threshold and pass a bill with just 51 votes.

Reconciliation can only be used on budget related issues—taxing, borrowing, and spending. But a lot of issues can be tied to taxing, borrowing, and spending!

Reconciliation creates a dangerous avenue through which Democrats can pass their entire socialist agenda without a single Republican vote.

For months, progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC have been pushing for everything in the socialist agenda to be included in a reconciliation bill:

• Amnesty for millions of illegals
• The Green New Deal
• Funding for Critical Race Theory
• Taxes on health care
• Cradle-to-grave government programs
• Taxpayer funding for abortion

Democrats know it will be expensive—the current estimate is more than $3.5 trillion.

It’s exactly the reason why on Monday, they tried to get a debt limit suspension, which would give them a blank check to grow the national debt and fund all this reckless spending.

This $3.5 trillion tax, borrow, and spending bill is every bit as bad as it sounds. And it’s critical to the future of America that we keep it from passing.

Senators Synema (D-Ariz.) and Manchin (D-W.Va.) are heavily involved in the negotiations—they have unmet demands and have indicated that they would be more supportive of a smaller bill. But their continued resilience in the face of immense Left-wing pressure is not guaranteed.

>>> Take Action: Call your Senators and oppose this $3.5 Trillion Bill

Current state of play: Democrats are still haggling over the exact provisions to be included in this bill and negotiations could stretch over the next several weeks. Conservatives need to keep up the pressure and oppose the entire bill. Best case scenario is that a deal is never reached—if one is reached, Democrats could pass it without a single Republican vote.

4. A $1 Trillion “Infrastructure” Package

A few weeks ago, the Senate passed an absurdly large, trillion-dollar ‘infrastructure’ bill with hardly any infrastructure in it (less than 10% is for roads and bridges).

The House has not voted on it yet, because progressives like AOC and Pramila Jayapal are holding it hostage.

Why are progressives against a $1 trillion bill that funds so much of their agenda? Because it doesn’t spend enough, of course!!!

Progressives want to spend the entire $3.5 trillion in the tax and spend reconciliation bill in addition to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. So they are refusing to vote for it until the Senate passes the larger $3.5 trillion bill.

And in early September, Pelosi was on board; Pelosi promised her entire caucus that passage of one bill depends on passage of the other. In her mind, they were one package.

This proves the point Heritage Action has been making since August: “[The infrastructure bill] is a prerequisite to passing the rest of President Biden’s catastrophic agenda through a Democrat-only reconciliation package.” It’s why opposition to the infrastructure bill is so important. It’s already bad, and it opens the door to a bill that is even worse.

But back to the drama…

Pelosi has changed her tune and now wants to pass the infrastructure bill without a deal on the larger $3.5 trillion tax, borrow, and spend bill.

Three times this week, Speaker Pelosi said she would hold a vote on the bill. And three days this week, Pelosi had to cancel the vote because she didn’t have the votes.

House Progressives are currently holding strong and are trying to twist the arms of Senators Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Synema (D-Ariz.) who voted for the infrastructure bill but are holding up the larger $3.5 trillion bill.

This is a classic case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Democrats are in a sticky situation of their own making, and Republicans aren’t in any hurry to bail them out of it.

>>> Take Action: Call your House Representative and tell them to vote NO on the Trillion-Dollar ‘Infrastructure’ bill

Current state of play: Stalled, but very much alive and should be forcefully opposed by grassroots conservatives. Progressive Democrats in the House are in a game of chicken with Speaker Pelosi. Love her or hate her, she’s one of the most skilled tacticians in Washington, but she mishandled her caucus and this bill from the start. We could be witnessing the complete unraveling of Biden’s socialist agenda.

Seize this Moment

Now is the time for grassroots activists to turn up the pressure on Congress. We must oppose both of these trillion-dollar bills in their entirety.

And we can even use ancillary issues like the debt ceiling to help us, as a debt limit suspension is a blank check that would fund Biden’s far-Left agenda.

Get involved—be loud—be heard.

Call your Legislators. Tell them to vote NO on ‘infrastructure’ and REJECT the even larger $3.5 Trillion bill.

Submit a “letter to the editor” for your local newspaper. Tell them you are firmly against saddling our children with trillions upon trillions in new debt.

Share this information with family and friends—help them get involved.

There is no shortage of work to do, and no limit to the impact we can have.

Turn up the pressure and let’s defeat the disastrous Biden agenda!

    Jessica and the Heritage Action team

Join the fight to advance the conservative agenda.