'Time to fold': House Democrat urges holdouts to give up 'stupid' fight on infrastructure deal

A vulnerable House Democrat urged her colleagues to accept the infrastructure bill can't pass without a larger reconciliation bill.

Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) said the faction of conservative Democrats led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) should give up their fight to make an immediate stand-alone vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate, and go along with a potential deal to pass a blueprint for a $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill now and vote on infrastructure next month, reported the Washington Post.

"I didn't come to Congress to take safe votes," Wild told the newspaper. "You always need to know when to fold, and it's time to fold."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has hoped to start the process for the reconciliation bill first and then pass both final bills after the Senate finishes on reconciliation, but Gottheimer and other holdouts are threatening to kill the blueprint as leverage to get what they want in infrastructure.

"Are you just going to dig your heels in and say, 'I'm not doing anything'?" Wild said. "That's just stupid."