Democrats Aim to Keep Government Funded as Talks Continue on $3.5 Trillion Bill

That government-funding deadline is one of several scheduling crunches Democrats face in the coming days. The party also is hoping to bridge a rift between its progressive and moderate members over Mr. Biden’s agenda and approve a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the House in a vote currently set for Thursday.

The effort to approve the infrastructure legislation is entangled, however, with negotiations on a separate, $3.5 trillion education, climate, and healthcare bill. Some progressive Democrats are threatening to oppose the infrastructure bill until the social-policy bill has passed the Senate or until a formal deal is reached on its contents. The tactic is aimed at pressuring moderate Democrats to support the $3.5 trillion proposal.

Mr. Biden has held a series of meetings with moderate Democrats in recent days to lock down their support for the social-policy and climate effort, and, in turn, mollify progressive fears that moderates would block that bill. Top Democrats are rushing to secure a renewed agreement on the social-policy and climate bill before bringing the infrastructure bill to the House floor.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has, in recent days, said that the infrastructure bill would come to the floor Thursday independent of the status of the other legislation. She then changed tacks and again seemed to make consideration of the infrastructure bill conditional on an agreement on the social-policy and climate effort.

“I think if we come to a place where we have agreement in legislative language, not just principle, in legislative language, that the president supports, it has to meet his standard, because that’s what we are supporting, and then I think we will come together,” Mrs. Pelosi told reporters Wednesday, referencing the $3.5 trillion proposal.

Mrs. Pelosi held out the possibility of the House delaying a vote on the infrastructure bill for the second time. She previously had reached an agreement with moderate House Democrats to hold a vote on the infrastructure bill this past Monday.

“We take it one step at a time,” she said.

In addition to the fracas over Mr. Biden’s policy agenda among Democrats, Republicans and Democrats are also locked in a stalemate over raising the country’s borrowing limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers Tuesday that the country would be unable to pay its bills starting Oct. 18 unless Congress acts .

Republicans have blocked Democratic attempts to suspend the debt limit in the Senate, protesting the scope of Democrats’ spending ambitions and arguing that Democrats carry the responsibility for authorizing more borrowing.

Democrats have accused Republicans of creating the risk of a potentially catastrophic default on the debt, offering to pass the measure along party lines if Republicans first allow the process to move forward. Democrats do have the power to raise the debt limit through a separate procedure called reconciliation. So far they have resisted going that route, calling reconciliation time- consuming and unnecessary.

Democrats had originally paired the debt-limit measure and the government- funding patch together, trying to raise pressure on Republicans to support the must-pass measures. Republicans still blocked the bill, which also includes $28.6 billion in emergency disaster aid and $6.3 billion to help resettle Afghan evacuees.

Separating the debt limit and the government-funding measures will ease passage of the stopgap spending bill in the Senate and likely avoid a shutdown this week, though the two parties will continue to do battle over the borrowing limit.

The House is expected to soon take up a stand-alone bill on the debt limit, though some moderate Democrats have said they were hesitant to support the measure. Mrs. Pelosi said Wednesday that she had no patience for Democrats who wouldn’t back a bill allowing more borrowing.

“These members have all voted for this last week, so if they’re concerned about how it might be in an ad, it’s already in an ad, it’s already in an ad, so let us give every confidence every step of the way,” she said.