House Democrats could vote on infrastructure, delay action on social bill-lawmaker

House Democrats could vote on infrastructure, delay action on social bill-lawmaker

The U.S. House of Representatives could vote Friday on President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure package but postpone action on a sweeping social-policy bill amid lingering questions over its cost, the head of the Congressional Black Caucus said. It was not immediately clear whether progressive Democrats - who have insisted that the two bills move in unison - would back the idea, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office did not immediately comment.

Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty said the House would hold a procedural vote on the social-policy and climate-change bill but did not know when the Democratic-controlled chamber would hold a final vote. "Today we’re going to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure and we’re also going to vote on the rule for the 'Build Back Better,'" Beatty told reporters after emerging from Pelosi's office, using the title of the sweeping $1.75 trillion social-policy and climate-change bill.

Pelosi had planned to hold a vote on both bills on Friday, but action ground to a halt for hours after centrist Democrats said they wanted to see a nonpartisan cost estimate for the social-policy and climate-change bill. That estimate, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), could take weeks to complete. The Democratic leadership of Congress wanted to close out a week in which the party suffered embarrassing losses in state elections with a vote on that sweeping legislation https://ift.tt/3nXX9c1 and another, approved in a bipartisan Senate vote in August, to invest $1 trillion in rebuilding the nation's infrastructure https://ift.tt/3qaSfec.

Weeks of bickering between moderate and progressive Democrats have held up the bills. Biden on Friday for the first time publicly called on the House to vote on the bills today. "I'm asking every House member - member of the House of Representatives – to vote 'yes' on both these bills right now," the Democratic president said.

The two pieces of legislation include the biggest upgrade of America's roads, bridges and airports in a generation and the largest expansion of social programs since the 1960s. An affirmative vote would bolster the credibility of Biden's pledge to halve U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 during the U.N. climate conference https://ift.tt/3vHjC0k taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

The party is eager to show it can move forward on the president's agenda and fend off Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections, when control of the House and Senate will be on the line. WAITING FOR CBO

But distrust between the party's factions remained high. Moderate Representative Jared Golden told reporters his group was waiting to see the CBO report on the bill before voting. Progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed anger, saying, "Moderates are threatening to tank the bill over the CBO score."

With razor-thin majorities in Congress and a united Republican opposition, Democrats need unity to pass legislation. The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate https://ift.tt/3qfNujT in August with 19 Republican votes, would fund a massive upgrade of America's roads, bridges, airports, seaports and rail systems, while also expanding broadband internet service.

The "Build Back Better" package includes provisions on child care and preschool, eldercare, healthcare, prescription drug pricing and immigration. Debate over that legislation quickly put on display a stark partisan contrast between Democrats and Republicans, who call the social-policy and climate-change agenda a "socialist" tax and spending bill.

"This is potentially a very black day for America," said Republican Representative Glenn Grothman, who characterized the legislation's child-care and preschool provisions as a “Marxist” effort to have the federal government raise children. His comments were soon rebutted by Democratic Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who said the bill would create a brighter future by supporting American families.

“Today is going to be a bright day in America, as Democrats govern and lead and make a difference,” Jackson Lee said. The nonpartisan U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation issued a report scoring the "Build Back Better" legislation's tax revenue provisions at $1.48 trillion over the next decade.

But top Democrats argued that the bill was fully paid for. Pelosi and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said the joint committee's analysis did not account for additional revenue from provisions intended to enhance the Internal Revenue Service's tax collection and to lower the cost of prescription drugs for the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly.

House Democrats could vote on infrastructure, delay action on social bill-lawmaker
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