House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is aiming for a Thursday vote on the $1.85 trillion social welfare spending bill that lawmakers began debating earlier in the day. The California Democrat said lawmakers would vote after receiving a cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
“Those votes hopefully will take place later this afternoon,” Pelosi told reporters.
DESANTIS TAKES A JAB AT BIDEN VACCINE MANDATE IN BRANDON, FLORIDA
Democrats have spent weeks negotiating the size and cost of the legislation to win acceptance from key Senate centrists who must provide Democrats with unanimous support to pass the bill in the evenly divided chamber.
The bill is a key component of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda and would provide an array of new government services, subsidies, and green energy policies.
In the House, a handful of centrist Democrats eyeing public concerns about inflation have called for a CBO analysis of the cost ahead of the final vote.
Biden and top Democratic leaders tout the measure as fully offset by tax revenue, but the White House has warned lawmakers the CBO may determine whether it will add to the deficit. The nonpartisan agency has not signaled a final score would be ready Thursday, but Pelosi suggested it would arrive before the vote.
“We’ll get the final CBO estimate this afternoon,” Pelosi said. “Hopefully by 5 p.m.”
Democrats are also making last-minute technical changes to the legislation to accommodate Senate procedural rules required to allow party lawmakers to pass the bill with a simple majority rather than the usual 60 votes, Pelosi said.
Democrats must pass the legislation unilaterally because no Republican has signaled support for the bill.
The GOP believes the legislation will worsen the economy by driving up already-high inflation and energy prices and hiking taxes in a way that will punish workers and consumers.
“There all kinds of tax increases that would hit major employers, Main Street small businesses, and American families,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday. “Nonpartisan experts have confirmed the Democrats’ bill would completely break the president’s promise not to raise ‘a single penny more’ in taxes on middle-class households.”
The Senate won’t take up the measure until December.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said lawmakers will vote on the measure by Christmas.
The bill could face changes in the Senate due to procedural requirements and the demands of centrists Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Manchin said he’s concerned the bill would further drive up inflation, and he’s opposed to a plan providing four weeks of paid family and medical leave, arguing it would drain funding for existing entitlements that are already on shaky financial ground.
