11/04/2021

Pelosi Wants Key Votes on Economic Agenda This Week

She did not give a timeline for action on the legislation

House Democrats have signaled they want to vote this week on a $1.75 trillion social spending package that would make transformational investments in health care, education, climate and tax policy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did not give a timeline for action on the legislation in a press conference earlier today but said Democrats are close to consensus on the package and are counting votes for the bill as well as a second, parallel bill to fund improvements to the nation’s infrastructure. The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal passed the Senate earlier this year but has been held up in the House, as progressive lawmakers vowed not to sign off until there is agreement on the social spending plan that constitutes the second piece of Biden’s Build Back Better economic agenda.

Pelosi also cited a Joint Committee on Taxation report as evidence that the social spending bill is fully paid for. The JCT projects that the tax provisions in the bill would raise $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Pelosi said other pay-fors in the bill, including prescription drug pricing savings and IRS enforcement, would raise approximately $650 billion.

Democratic leaders have doubled down on enacting President Joe Biden’s economic agenda after the party lost a gubernatorial election in Virginia and won a closer-than-expected contest in New Jersey earlier this week.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said this week that Tuesday night’s election results should cause Democrats to rethink their legislative agenda.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of A and Inroads.