House Democrats this week plan to take up and pass a $1.75 trillion social welfare spending bill that they hope will provide a positive jolt to the party’s sagging poll numbers and boost momentum for the measure to pass the Senate later this year.
The Build Back Better framework is the central element of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. It would provide an array of new government programs and payments, including an extension of the child tax credit, free preschool and child care for many families, and expanded healthcare subsidies. The measure would also implement new policies aimed at converting the nation’s energy grid to green sources.
House Democrats intend to pass the bill with a simple majority and no help from GOP lawmakers. Republicans unanimously oppose the bill and say it is economically reckless and will further aggravate the nation’s rising inflation crisis.
Democrats are poised to consider the bill after President Biden signs into law a $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure that will pay for roads, bridges, water projects, and broadband expansion.
Biden will sign the bill at the White House Monday afternoon, with many Democrats and a smattering of Republicans in attendance.
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Democrats are eager to now pass the Build Back Better legislation, which they say provides money for “human infrastructure.”
The bill’s cost would be offset by setting a corporate minimum tax, hiking taxes on the wealthy, and lowering prescription Medicare drug costs.
“It’s important to deliver for the people,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC. “And we’re going to do that with the Build Back Better Act.”
The measure faces hurdles in the Senate and is likely to undergo changes in order to allow Senate Democrats to pass the measure with 51 votes instead of the usual 60 votes.
Democrats hope to include language providing legal status to millions of workers living illegally in the United States, but that provision could run afoul of the Senate parliamentarian, who has so far rejected attempts to provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Democrats in the Senate must also negotiate with party moderates Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who are wary of the bill’s high price tag and the impact on rising inflation.
Party lawmakers are hoping to convince Manchin to support language in the House bill that would provide four weeks of paid family leave. The measure would cost $194 billion over a decade, and Manchin has argued against spending more on subsidies when Medicare and Social Security are headed toward insolvency in the coming years.
Manchin is also opposed to green energy policies that would provide subsidies to electric vehicles and steer the nation away from fossil fuels.
Most Democrats back the bill, however, and say the provisions will provide tangible benefits that will bolster the party’s popularity ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Biden’s approval ratings have not rebounded.
A weekend poll released by the Washington Post and ABC News found that 53% of voters disapproved of Biden’s job performance.
Democrats have fared poorly in polling matchups against Republicans, and they are in jeopardy of losing their razor-thin majorities in the House and the Senate.
“There will be some policies that will continue to be immediately felt, such as the extension of the child tax credit, where millions of American families with children, low-income families, working families, and middle-class families are receiving a monthly tax credit, hundreds of dollars that is being used to pay for childcare, or for food, or for medicine, or for educational expenses, or for clothing, or for housing,” Jeffries, of New York, told MSNBC. “We’re going to have to draw the contrast about what we’ve done for everyday Americans and what the other side does, which is just to continue to focus on the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected, and then we will have a great shot to hold the House and hold the Senate.”
