'Nancy the Fifth' faces her Agincourt

The House is a mess, a visitor might say, with a government shutdown looming at midnight Friday and two Democratic bills worth trillions in infrastructure up in the air. It's a monumental moment in time.

Senate Republicans are also seriously threatening the first Treasury default on the nation's "full faith and credit." Something to send shock waves all over the world.

Once more unto the breach, as King Henry V declares in the eponymous Shakespeare history play before his thrilling victory over the French king's men.

Only, in our realm, the breach is bigger. Those glued to the Capitol drama say they've never seen so many stakes this high, all at once, for a president and his party.

President Joe Biden put all his chips into advancing "Build Back Better" infrastructure. Even so, the president is taking direction and strategy from the true leader of the hour.

It's no secret that's House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This is her battle of Agincourt, her donnybrook to unite a "band of brothers" - and sisters - in a victory history will remember.

The California Democrat is facing the greatest challenge of her political life since she was born the Baltimore mayor's daughter. She learned old-school skills and graces, and to count votes in her sleep.

The House buzzes with cacophony, but it is not a mess. The 220 Democratic lawmakers, by some alchemy, are bound to become a disciplined force at the end of the day - or week. They feel it.

Moderates and progressives crossed swords over the size and scope of the two bills. But after a rousing private parley in the House basement, judging from their smiles, strides and hallway comments, both sides trust Pelosi to somehow move both bills - dear to different hearts.

"She is a magical legislator," said liberal lawmaker Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, Tennessee.

A Texan moderate, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Laredo, said he tells the progressive wing: "If anyone can get a deal done, it's Pelosi."

"It was a beautiful meeting," Pelosi said. "I'm so proud of them."

Some moderates are pressing hard for a $1.2 trillion package of conventional programs for roads, ferries, ports, bridges and rail projects. That bipartisan bill, passed by the Senate, may be approved by the House Thursday. It would fund jobs mostly filled by men.

The $3.5 trillion package for social infrastructure addresses climate change and empowering women, upended by the pandemic. Universal pre-K, home health care for seniors, child care, paid family leave, better Medicare and a middle-class tax cut are included.

It's a new New Deal, Democrats say, but sweeping changes are subject to cuts by moderates.

Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, is one holdout in the field of 50 Democratic senators - and every single one is needed to pass the bill by a special "reconciliation" rule.

For days, Manchin refused to make any promises, giving rise to remarks that Pelosi would never give him such free rein.

Pelosi held back the easy bipartisan bill to allow debate and consensus on the larger "moral imperative."

In practice, this means House Democrats can no longer stand divided to reach an accord with Senate allies. And Congress is running out of time to fund the government.

The progressive faction is more powerful and vowed to vote down the smaller package if the larger one fails on the floor.

Pelosi likes to say, "I don't go to the floor to lose."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, spoke for 50 liberals when she told reporters, "We'll be happy to vote for the other bill once the full (reconciliation) bill is agreed upon."

A common framework and a clear number in both chambers are needed for Democrats to break their logjam.

Pelosi has saved the day for the party before. In 2010, the speaker coaxed her reluctant caucus into passing health care reform, though the Senate scuttled the public option, meant to give Obamacare more teeth.

Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky flatly broke the traditional bond to pay the country's bills, enraging Senate Democrats. The deadline for a Treasury crisis is in mid-October.

That will not slow Pelosi's march into the breach.

Said one observer: "She's Nancy the Fifth."

© 2021, Creators