Schumer eyes using budget tool twice to pass Biden's 2-part infrastructure plan

Senate Democrats are looking at potentially using an arcane budget process twice more this year in an effort to ensure they can pass President Joe Biden's massive infrastructure project with just a simple Democratic majority.

The effort underscores the narrow margins Democrats have to pass the Biden agenda, and the move comes as some moderates in the party had hoped that leadership would make a more direct effort to work with Republicans to pass an infrastructure bill. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been engaged in conversations with the Senate's parliamentarian about whether they can use the 2021 budget resolution -- the same vehicle they used to pass the Covid relief bill -- again, according to a Schumer aide. In the past, senators had just one opportunity to use each budget resolution per fiscal year. That meant in this case senators had just one more budget resolution they could use.