May 21, 2023

House sends $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to Biden’s desk

President Trump has signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, with the House of Representatives sending the package to Vice President Joe Biden’s desk hours before Congress adjourned for its August recess. The measure will spend just over half what was originally requested by the White House and sets aside funding for rural water projects and other areas that were left out in earlier drafts, according to an aide familiar with negotiations.,

The “infrastructure bill 2021 house vote” is a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that will be sent to the desk of Vice President Joe Biden.

Following a day of Democratic dissension over the infrastructure bill and the much bigger social spending plan, the House late Friday night approved the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which is a significant pillar of President Biden’s domestic program.

The infrastructure measure was passed with 13 Republican votes and six Democratic votes. Upon the bill’s passing, the House floor erupted in applause.

Mr. Biden has touted the bipartisan infrastructure package, which contains $550 billion in additional spending on the nation’s physical infrastructure, as the greatest investment in roads, bridges, ports, water, and rail in decades. The law allocates $110 billion to roads, bridges, and significant projects, as well as $39 billion to public transportation and $66 billion to railroads. It also allocates $65 billion for the implementation of internet infrastructure and $55 billion for investments in clean water.

Mr. Biden and Ms. Pelosi spoke at least four times after the vote, according to a White House official, as they coordinated and made several calls to members throughout the day.

The House also enacted a rule that will enable a vote on the Build Back Better measure later this month. Democratic leadership had wanted to approve both proposals on Friday, but disagreements within the party put that plan on hold. Progressives have threatened to kill the infrastructure bill unless the Build Back Better Act is passed, while moderates have threatened not to vote for it until further guarantees are provided that it will be properly funded and would not harm the economy.

At 12:40 a.m. Saturday, the rule was approved by a vote of 221-213. At 12:42 a.m., the House adjourned.

After receiving further information from the Congressional Budget Office, numerous House moderates published a statement declaring they would vote for the Build Back Better Act in its present form. Their message was intended to reassure progressives concerned about the social expenditure bill’s passage. Soon after, Chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal, issued a statement suggesting that progressives would support the infrastructure vote if moderates agreed.

“Members of the Progressive Caucus and our Democratic Caucus colleagues achieved an agreement tonight to move both elements of President Biden’s legislative agenda forward,” Jayapal stated. “No later than the week of November 15, our colleagues have pledged to vote for the revolutionary Build Back Better Act in its present form. All of our colleagues have agreed to vote tonight on the rule that would advance the Build Back Better Act and formalize this pledge.”

Mr. Biden’s legislative agenda is centered on these two bills, according to a senior White House staffer who said late Friday that the president was “in the residence with his policy and legislative teams making calls and maintaining in close contact with leadership and members.” Many Democrats have long wished for the president to utilize his office’s authority to persuade members to vote.

“I’m pushing all members to vote tonight for both the rule for consideration of the Build Back Better Act and ultimate approval of the Bipartisan Infrastructure package,” Trump said in a statement. “I am sure that the House will approve the Build Back Better Act during the week of November 15.”

The president had previously encouraged “every member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both of these legislation right now” during comments on employment.

It’s unclear what will happen in the Senate if the House adopts the Build Back Better Act, which would expand the social safety net and address climate change. The House reintroduced paid family and medical leave last week, a concept that had been deleted from the initial framework due to lobbying from important Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. While he favors paid leave, he believes it does not fit in a package like Build Back Better, which will be enacted via reconciliation with just Democratic votes.

Manchin has also asked for more information on how the social spending measure would effect the debt and inflation before he can support it. His second complaint of the bill is that it provides ten years of income but funds programs that would terminate in one to six years — “that’s not the full cost,” he told MSNBC on Thursday.

Paid leave has been reinstated in the law, but it is not the only big addition. The most recent version also raises the state and local tax (SALT) deduction threshold from $10,000 to $72,500 (or $36,250 in the event of an estate, trust, or married person filing a separate return), and extends the higher ceiling to 2031 rather than 2025. Another part of the plan would enable illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States before January 1, 2011, to apply for “parole,” a legal status that would protect them from deportation and allow them to work.

The votes for both proposals follow a humiliating defeat for Democrats in Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin won the governor’s race in a state that Mr. Biden carried by ten points only a year earlier. In strongly Democratic New Jersey, Democrats came dangerously close to losing the governorship.

This story was co-written by Ed O’Keefe, Fin Gomez, Melissa Quinn, John Nolen, Zak Hudak, and Camilo Montoya Galvez.