About this episode
The House adjourned just after 10 p.m. on Thursday night as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team struggled to round up votes to pass the twin infrastructure and Build Back Better bills. Democratic leadership announced the House will be back in session at 8 a.m. and votes would happen today. — One reason for Democrats to be optimistic today: “[M]any in the caucus are set to embark on overseas trips ahead of next week’s recess.” A deadline, in other words, could help push them to act. — One reason for Democrats to be pessimistic: “But party leaders’ failure to corral the votes they need on Thursday — after several exhausting weeks spent hashing out many of the same issues — has left some Democrats privately wondering how they’ll pull it off on Friday.” Subscribe to POLITICO Playbook . Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook. Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.