- The House Friday nightpassed the bipartisan infrastructure bill after a multi-hour standoff between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and left-wing members of her party who vowed to oppose it without voting on President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending package in tandem.
- It passed after an 11th-hour deal between the far-left Congressional Progressive Caucus, moderate Blue Dog Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus that allowed for the House to pass the infrastructure bill and adopt the rule governing the budget’s debate.
- “I am urging all members to vote for both the rule for consideration of the Build Back Better Act and final passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill tonight,” President Joe Biden said late Friday.
The House Friday night passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill after a multi-hour standoff between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and left-wing members of her party who vowed to oppose it without voting on President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending package in tandem.
The package, which devotes about $1.2 trillion over the next decade towards improving roads, bridges, ports, waterways, rural broadband access and more, passed on a 228-206 vote, with 13 Republicans and 6 Democrats breaking party lines to vote for and against the bill, respectively. It passed after an 11th-hour deal between the far-left Congressional Progressive Caucus, moderate Blue Dog Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus that allowed for the House to pass the infrastructure bill and adopt the rule governing the budget’s debate.
While the last minute agreement allowing for a successful vote mirrored the original offer from Democratic leadership, it included a written agreement from moderates backed by Biden that they would vote for the broader spending package if the CBO score was aligned with White House estimates.
“We commit to voting for the Build Back Better Act, in its current form other than technical changes, as expeditiously as we receive technical changes,” the moderates’ statement said in part.
“I am urging all members to vote for both the rule for consideration of the Build Back Better Act and final passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill tonight,” Biden said as Democrats continued to meet. “I am confident that during the week of November 15, the House will pass the Build Back Better Act.”