U.S. House passes Biden's $1.75 trillion social spending bill, sending
to Senate
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[November 20, 2021]
By David Morgan, Richard Cowan and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe
Biden's $1.75 trillion bill to bolster the social safety net and fight
climate change passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday and
headed to the Senate, where divided moderates and liberals still need to
reach agreement.
The House passed the measure in a 220-213 vote, which was postponed for
hours by an angry overnight opposition speech from the chamber's top
Republican. Elated Democrats gathered on the House floor to cheer the
vote with waves of applause, while disgruntled Republicans called for
order.
"Now, the Build Back Better Act goes to the United States Senate, where
I look forward to it passing as soon as possible so I can sign it into
law," Biden said in a statement following the vote.
Senate Democrats hope to reach agreement by the end of December with
centrist Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have raised
concerns about the bill's size and some of its provisions.
Deliberations over an assortment of prickly issues, ranging from tax
policy to government-paid family leave benefits, are likely to alter the
measure before it can pass the chamber. A defection by any of the
Senate's 48 Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them
would sink the bill, which faces united Republican opposition.
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"Good luck in the Senate," Republican Representative Kat Cammack told
Democrats, as she delivered a final set of Republican proxy votes
against the bill.
An altered Senate version would require the House to vote again before
Biden could sign the measure into law.
But with the initial House passage complete and the recent enactment of
a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, Biden and his Democratic
allies have considerable momentum as the measure approaches the finish
line.
"At the end of the day we will have a great bill," House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi told reporters after the vote.
The bill has been scaled down substantially from Democrats' initial $3.5
trillion plan but would still invest billions to expand education, lower
healthcare costs and tackle climate change.
Friday's House vote came after Republican House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy spoke for a record-setting 8-1/2 hours starting late Thursday.
He cataloged a list of Republican grievances - some related to the bill
and some not - and at times shouted down Democrats in the House who were
openly dismissive.
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![](../images/112021pics/news_L55.jpg)
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) presides over the
final vote as the Build Back Better Act passes, on the House floor
in the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S. November 19, 2021.
REUTERS/Al Drago
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In a dig at McCarthy, Pelosi later raised chuckles
with her own speech supporting the bill, saying: "As a courtesy to
my colleagues, I will be brief."
"If you are a parent, a senior, a child, a worker, if you are an
American, this bill's for you, and it is better," said Pelosi, whom
Biden later called to congratulate.
Only one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voted
against the measure, saying its tax provisions were too generous to
the wealthy. But Golden vowed in an early morning tweet to "keep
pushing to make changes ... so that it lives up to its goals."
The House vote follows the Congressional Budget Office's estimate
that the bill would raise federal budget deficits by $367 billion
over 10 years, but that additional revenues from improved Internal
Revenue Service tax collections could generate a net increase in
revenues of $127 billion through 2031.
The White House estimates the IRS changes will generate $400 billion
in additional revenue and says the bill overall will reduce deficits
by $112 billion over a decade.
Several moderate Democrats, including Golden, had said they needed
the CBO's assessment before they would vote. The others accepted the
White House's math.
The legislation follows the infrastructure investment bill that
Biden signed into law this week - two key pillars of the Democratic
president's domestic agenda - and a separate $1.9 trillion COVID-19
relief package that passed in March.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Moira Warburton,
additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Katharine Jackson and Ismail
Shakil; Editing by Scott Malone, Alex Richardson and Jonathan Oatis)
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