So, Jim, when I imagine you right now, I'm imagining you in your home office with a calendar on the wall with September 27th circled in like red ink.

Is that an accurate portrayal?

Yes.

Yeah.

No, it's just it's a calendar the size of the entire wall with lots of different, you know, things on it.

And I just stare at it. I don't even sleep. I just look at it and try to theorize about how this could play out.

Jim Newell covers Capitol Hill for Slate. You have a countdown clock?

Yeah, pretty much. Just my life now.

The reason Jim is so focused on September 27th, that's next Monday, by the way, is because

this is the day when a lot of Joe Biden's legislative priorities are going to dramatically collide in Congress.

Just to catch you up, there are a couple of big bills the Democrats are trying to pass right now.

One is a $500 billion infrastructure package negotiated along with Republicans in the Senate.

The other is a budget reconciliation bill, which doesn't

require Republican cooperation at all, but it's got this jaw-dropping price tag, somewhere in the

range of $3.5 trillion. Progressives want to pass the big bill first to make sure it becomes law.

Moderates want to pass the compromise bill first, because spending $3.5 trillion

sounds like a pipe dream to them.

Nancy Pelosi has said voting will start on September 27th.

You've talked about it as like a drop dead date for the Democratic agenda.

Well, I think it's a date where there've been a lot

of threats going around and we'll get into all of that, but it's kind of the point where some of

these threats are going to start to come due. Progressives and moderates are basically

...