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WASHINGTON, D.C. – After months of negotiations, the House finally advanced President Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill to the U.S. Senate. Local congressional leaders talk about the future of this bill and the hurdles it now faces.
“On this vote, the yays are 220 the nays are 213, the build back better bill is passed,” said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The two trillion dollar climate and social policy bill would provide families with child care subsidies, universal pre-k, expand health coverage and provisions that would combat climate change.
As you can see from reaction on the House floor after the final vote, the bill doesn’t have much bipartisan support.
Now this bill is in the Senate, it’s fate is still uncertain. It will have to take all 50 democratic senators to vote ‘yes’ for it to move on, but as of right now, not every Dem is on board.
Two moderate democrats, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, have pushed back on this bill. They’re concerned about the cost and scale of it.
Other senators are wanting to tweak the bill even more and if they make changes to it, it will have to be kicked back to the House once again.
Representative Ed Case (D-HI) voted for the bill in the House after he said he confirmed the measure is largely paid for rather than borrowed. But he even noted that “in the likelihood whole parts of our House-passed version will be removed or altered and other provisions added in the Senate, there is a long road still head for BBB.”
Republican Representative Glenn Thompson (R-PA) is doubtful the bill will survive the Senate.
“There are clearly things in there that not just Senator Manchin or senator Sinema – but I think others will be opposed to that were really put together by really these socialist-driven democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. So really this is the beginning of the end to this process we’ll see whether the Senate will actually pass this thing,” said Thompson.
Democratic Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) has faith the bill will pass in his chamber.
“It’s going to be long and torturous in some ways with the process and all the mechanics but we’ll get it done,” said Casey.
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