Pelosi, the moderates and the progressives: Speaker’s shifting alliances as she pushed Biden’s spending plans

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set the chamber up for a vote Friday on Democrats’ massive reconciliation spending bill, leaning on a handful of reluctant moderates who wanted a chance to analyze Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores first. 

“We will vote on the rule and then on the bill, those votes hopefully will take place later this afternoon,” Pelosi said Thursday ahead of any release of that information. Pelosi was backed by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who said she wanted a vote either Thursday night or first thing Friday morning. 

The effort represents just the latest stage in Democrats’ monthslong saga trying to pass both an infrastructure bill and a reconciliation bill, with Pelosi pushed and pulled between progressives and moderates in her own party. It was just earlier this month Pelosi was steamrolling progressives to get the moderate-backed infrastructure to President Biden’s desk. 

“At the end of the day, things change, situations change,” R Street Institute senior fellow James Wallner said of Pelosi’s rapidly changing alliances. “What lawmakers are concerned about is outcomes, and they think about this is – anything is OK as long as it gives you that outcome… They’re just changing their means to reach the same ends.”

PELOSI DEFENDS SALT DEDUCTION IN DEMS’ SPENDING BILL, INSISTS IT WON’T BENEFIT THE RICH

An examination of Pelosi’s statements and positions going back to June reveals a leader who’s been happy to change her approach over and over as she works with warring factions of her party to pass some of the most expensive bills in American history.

Early summer

Even before there was a deal on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Pelosi was definitively on the progressives’ side.

“Make sure you…