Will the US Senate support Biden’s Build Back Better plan? | Politics News

US President Joe Biden advertised under the slogan “Build Back Better”. It was his main platform – helping Americans by providing them with more support in many areas of life – education, subsidized childcare and health care, lower taxes.

After the House of Representatives passed its $ 1.75 trillion package of the same name on Friday, Biden is on the verge of enacting a comprehensive plan to pass the largest social assistance bill in the United States in more than 50 years .

But the plan encounters hurdles in the equally divided US Senate. The Republicans are united in their opposition. The Democrats need each of their 50 Senators to vote for it.

Senator Joe Manchin, a centrist member of President Biden’s Democratic Party, has yet to signal his support for the package. And Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who supports Biden’s plan, has hinted that she still has concerns about the details of the House of Representatives bill.

Biden and the Democratic Party are counting on the law to be used as the campaign’s central message in the upcoming 2022 congressional election.

The package includes comprehensive social benefits such as free pre-school education, childcare grants for working families, expansion of subsidized health care and a reduction in drug costs.

Important to the progressive wing of the Democrats, the bill plans to invest about $ 500 billion in clean energy and environmental programs to combat climate change.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday the Senate would quickly take the bill up for debate and vote.

“As soon as the necessary technical and procedural work with the Senate member has been completed, the Senate will take up this legislation,” said Schumer in a statement on Friday morning.

“We will act as soon as possible to get this bill on President Biden’s desk and to help middle-class families,” said the Senate Chairman.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spearheaded the passage of President Joe Biden’s comprehensive social and environmental bill [J Scott Applewhite/AP Photo]

Senator Manchin has expressed concern that the amount of new government spending in the plan could fuel higher inflation and create new welfare claims.

Manchin said he was concerned that some of the climate regulations would penalize coal mining in his home state of West Virginia. Manchin hailed the November 15th Democratic Infrastructure Bill as “historic” for its $ 6 billion investment in West Virginia.

Senator Sinema, who campaigned on behalf of the US’s major pharmaceutical companies, has pointed out that the bill passed in the House of Representatives does not fully reflect the White House political framework she endorsed in October.

Sinema may want to see changes to Medicare drug pricing rules that drug makers have objected to.

The massive legislation was reduced from $ 3.5 trillion, favored by most Democrats, to $ 1.75 trillion to meet Manchin and Sinema’s concerns.

The bill passed the House of Representatives 220-213 votes after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the tax funding in the bill would generate sufficient income to cover projected expenses over 10 years. Republicans argued the bill would increase the US federal deficit.

CBO estimates that tax enforcement funding through HR 5376, the Build Back Better Act, would increase spending by $ 80 billion and revenue by $ 207 billion, reducing the deficit by $ 127 billion by 2031 would decrease. https://t.co / GrbShPusVK

– US CBO (@USCBO) November 18, 2021

Immigration reform provisions in the House of Representatives bill, including approximately $ 100 billion in new spending

The Democrats have been forced to use accelerated but complicated budgetary procedures to move their agenda in Congress because they do not have the 60 votes in the Senate that would otherwise be required to pass important laws.

The vote in the House of Representatives ends months of arguments between the Democrats, which had weakened Biden’s public image with voters and contributed to a decline in his approval ratings. That could get into trouble for Democrats who want to keep their governing majority in Congress.

Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have worked to identify differences in political preferences among committee chairs.

House Democratic leaders on Friday predicted that the legislation would come back to the House with acceptable changes by the Senate that improve the legislation.

“At the end of the day we will have a great bill,” House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said Friday, expressing confidence that the bill would pass the Senate.

Once the Senate acts, the House of Representatives must approve all changes before the bill is sent to President Biden for the bill to be signed.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/19/will-us-senate-support-bidens-build-back-better-plan