Remain calm, Democrats. All is well.

SCHRADER just told us that there’s no resolution to the moderates demands.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 5, 2021

No really — all is well!

Moderate @RepGolden: “You should be asking if there will be a vote”

Reporter: “Will there be a vote?”

Golden: “It’s a good question. I don’t know”

— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) November 5, 2021

Consider this more of a status update than a resolution. Earlier today, I noted that media outlets reported that Nancy Pelosi planned to hold a rules vote on the $1.75-ish trillion reconciliation package, claiming that “significant progress” had been made. This seemed akin to reporting that Lucy planned to hold the football in place this time for Charlie Brown, but the Washington Post and other outlets didn’t seem to recognize irony when it was almost literally slapping them in the face.

Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman reports that Pelosi’s “trust me” memo on deficit impact hasn’t moved moderates yet, and that they’re “dug in” despite high pressure to capitulate:

WHERE WE ARE— moderates demanding a CBO score are very dug in right now. They’re huddled in pelosis office, @BrianDeeseNEC & Louisa Terrell have been in and out.

House vote has been open for more than an hour

Mods made a simple demand: they wanted a score. They don’t have one

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 5, 2021

CNN’s Manu Raju hears the same at the moment:

CBO score remains the last remaining hurdle to getting a vote today. Hoyer said there would not be a CBO score today.
“It could not be done today,” he said of a cost estimate. https://t.co/IRFlmhf6D4

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 5, 2021

It probably doesn’t help that House progressive leader Pramila Jayapal is now arguing that it’s worth losing the moderate’s seats to pass this bill now:

Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on Friday that it’s worth Democrats passing the party’s sweeping social spending bill even if they lose the House in next year’s midterm elections.

Jayapal was asked by reporters ahead of an expected vote on the legislation early Friday if it’s worth the party passing the bill if there is a chance Republicans take back the House amid blowback.

A similar turn of events occurred in 2010 after the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

“Of course it’s worth it if we’re making people’s lives better,” Jayapal said.

“What’s the alternative? To do nothing. I mean, that’s not gonna get us anywhere … part of what we have to do is really understand the economic frustration that people have right now. And I think that is really important for us.”

That might make sense if this bill had a prayer of getting passed in the Senate. It doesn’t, as Joe Manchin keeps making clear. Even if the Senate managed to pass a reconciliation bill — which looks impossible at the moment — it’s not going to be this bill, which means this vote will actually “do nothing.” The House will have to vote on another form of the reconciliation bill anyway, and again that assumes that the Senate can pass anything at all.

Besides, it’s pretty ironic to hear the half-a-loaf argument coming from Jayapal these days. As well as her volunteering the moderates to get eaten in the 2022 midterms.

Anyway, at the moment it appears this effort is going to flop one way or another, but today’s House vote could change at some point. Stay tuned, and, um … remain calm. All is well!

Update: Now we’re hearing that the CBO can’t score the House proposal until Thanksgiving:

As moderates demand estimate from CBO before a vote on $1.9T bill, House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth told me expects a full CBO score would take about 10-14 days, and wouldn’t be done until the week before Thanksgiving. Some think it could slip until the week of Thanksgiving.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 5, 2021

🚨NEW: Leadership believes no CBO score until THANKSGIVING WEEK, per sources in both parties. We may see some elements of the bill scored. But no total score for several weeks.

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) November 5, 2021

That could play in either direction.  Pelosi could insist that the vote can’t wait that long, as the legislative schedule is crowded already around the holidays with the debt ceiling and spending bills that got punted over the last several weeks. On the other hand, the moderates could well argue that there’s no rush on the reconciliation bill now that the elections are over, and they could take up the debt and spending bills now to clear the calendar rather than rush this bill through. That’s an especially good argument given that it’s going to die in the Senate anyway.

Update: In the “great minds think alike” department, John Podhoretz invoked Chip Diller a week ago when Pelosi was busy punting reconciliation that time. Be sure to read it all.