On Friday night, The House passed a more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. It was sent to President Joe Biden’s desk towards the Democratic economic plans.
The funding package, passed 228 to 206, will ramp up government spending on roads, bridges and airports, and public transit, water and broadband. Democrats entered the day planning to pass both the infrastructure legislation and the party’s larger $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate package.
A demand from a handful of centrists to see a Congressional Budget Office estimate of the social spending plan’s budgetary effects delayed its approval. Progressives sought assurances the holdouts would support the bigger proposal if they voted for the infrastructure bill. [CNBC]
This took months to get through Congress, creating deep divisions in the Democratic Party. The Senate approved the plan to revamp the transportation, utilities, and broadband in August. Biden put pressure on the House Democrats to pass the infrastructure package and social policy measure, also known as the Build Back Better bill.
“I’m asking every member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now,” Biden said during remarks from the White House. “Send the infrastructure bill to my desk, send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate. Let’s build on incredible economic progress, build on what we’ve already done because this will be such a boost when it occurs.”
House leadership later decided to push back the vote on the safety net bill due to several moderates insisting on first seeing a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of the legislation to ensure the bill is fully paid for.
Democrats cannot afford to lose more than a handful of defections given their narrow majority in the House. Democrats are planning on voting on the safety net bill before Thanksgiving. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would add $256 billion to the federal deficit over a 10-year span. [NBCNews]
