WASHINGTON, DC — The US House of Representatives
passed a $1 trillion bill Friday night to rebuild the country’s aging public works
system, fund new climate resilience initiatives, and expand access to
high-speed internet service, giving final approval to a central plank of
President Joe Biden’s economic agenda after a daylong drama that pitted
moderate Democrats against progressives.
اضافة اعلان
But an even larger social safety net and climate change bill
was back on hold, with a half-dozen moderate-to-conservative Democrats
withholding their votes until a nonpartisan analysis could tally its price tag.
For Biden, passage of the infrastructure bill fulfilled a
marquee legislative goal that he had promised to deliver since the early days
of his presidency: the largest single investment of federal resources into
infrastructure projects in more than a decade, including a substantial effort
to fortify the nation’s response to the warming of the planet.
“Tonight, we took a monumental step forward as a nation,”
Biden said in a statement after the vote, lauding both the infrastructure and
the social policy bills. “Generations from now, people will look back and know
this is when America won the economic competition for the 21st century.”
The drubbing Democrats took in off-year elections Tuesday
had given new urgency to the president’s demand for legislative action.
On Friday, Biden put his credibility on the line, pleading
with liberals to end their monthslong blockade and send him the public works
measure immediately without passage of their priority, the social safety net
measure. He backed passage of a rule for debating the social policy bill, called
the Build Back Better Act, as a tangible sign that it, too, would soon pass.
At 9pm, Biden made that plea public: “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,” he wrote.
“I am confident that during the week of November 15, the House will pass the
Build Back Better Act.”
He was expected to quickly sign the infrastructure bill into
law.
In a late-night vote, the House passed the infrastructure
measure on a 228–206 vote, with 13 Republicans joining all but six Democrats in
support.
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