Astonished Democrats set to clear finish line with climate, tax, health care package - The Hill

For more than a year, Democrats have wrestled with the massive climate, health care and tax package at the center of their domestic agenda, triggering clashes between the various party factions and sparking doubts about President Biden’s capacity to unite his troops behind transformative legislation.

House Democrats of all stripes are lining up to approve the Senate’s $740 billion tax-and-spending package on Friday when the lower chamber returns briefly to Washington, sending the legislation to Biden’s desk and securing a huge win for the president and his party less than three months from the midterm elections.

It seems likely the bill could clear the House without a single Democratic defection, whether from the left or center of the party.

Just a few weeks ago, the prospects of enacting a massive climate package this year appeared to be dead, buried under the opposition of centrist senators — most notably Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — wary of exacerbating inflation with new federal spending. .

The bill’s revival — a deal worked out privately between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) — has drastically expanded the Democrats’ legislative accomplishments under Biden, providing them a late political boost as they head into midterm elections that are expected to shift control of the House to the Republicans. ?

The package features major changes across the spectrum of domestic policy, including efforts to slash drug costs for seniors, expand health care subsidies for the working classes, cut deficit spending via corporate tax hikes and incentivize both businesses and individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Pelosi and her House Democrats had passed a much larger package late last year: a $2 trillion proposal that bolstered not only environmental and health care programs, but also a number of social benefit initiatives — things like child care subsidies, universal preschool and paid family leave — that were left out of the slimmer bill passed by the Senate on Sunday. .

Indeed, House liberals — including the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the members of the far-left “squad” — have been all praise, cheering on the legislation as it’s moved through the Senate to the House for Friday’s vote. .

And the smaller Senate bill is expected to sail through the House on Friday in similar fashion

In 2009, for instance, House Democrats had passed a sweeping climate change bill only to see it go ignored by Democrats in the Senate