Pelosi delays vote on Biden’s infrastructure bill in defeat for Democrats

Democrats say holdup is temporary despite stalemate over Biden's sweeping economic agenda

The US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, postponed a planned vote on a trillion-dollar infrastructure package on Thursday night a stinging defeat after progressives threatened to revolt and Democratic leaders failed to reach an agreement with centrists holdouts on the full sweep of Joe Biden's ambitious economic vision.

The decision to delay the vote capped a frantic day of negotiations in Washington that stretched late into the evening, as the president and Democratic leaders attempted to break a stalemate between a handful of moderates, who pushed for the infrastructure vote, and progressives who believe it would be insufficient without a broader, $3.5tn social policy package. At the same time, negotiations between White House officials and two Senate Democrats opposed to the current size of Biden's social spending package dragged into the night without a deal.