House approves $3.5T budget outline, setting up fall clash on Biden’s priorities for climate,

WASHINGTON – The House approved a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint Tuesday in a straight party-line vote, setting up a fall clash over the details of President Joe Biden’s proposed expansion of social programs that Republicans blasted for higher taxes and “wasteful” spending. The House voted 220-212 to “deem” the framework approved in a parliamentary maneuver while advancing other legislation. The strategy avoided a separate vote on the budget, which could have divided Democrats and failed to pass.

The budget outlines spending goals that committees must now detail in legislation, such as for free pre-kindergarten and community college, paid family and sick leave , and a Medicare expansion for hearing, dental and vision benefits . The outline includes contentious provisions. For climate change , the goal is to generate all of the country’s electricity without increasing carbon dioxide emissions by 2035. For immigration, the goal is to provide a pathway to lawful permanent residence for undocumented children, people who arrived from unsafe countries and farm workers. And it calls for higher taxes on corporations and people with incomes higher than $400,000. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., compared the size and reach of Biden priorities with the expansion of government programs under former Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Banes Johnson.

“Passing this rule paves the way for building back better, which will forge legislative progress unseen in 50 years that will stand for generations along the New Deal and the Great Society,” Pelosi said. “This legislation will be the biggest and perhaps most controversial initiatives that any of us have ever undertaken in our official lives.” Biden called the vote “a step closer to truly investing in the American people.” “My goal is to build an economy from the bottom up, in the middle out, not just the top down,” Biden said. “That’s what we’re on our way to doing.” Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., chairman of the House Budget Committee, speaks to reporters after a House Democratic Caucus meeting in the Capitol Visitor Center on June 15, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images

But Republicans blasted the budget outline for increasing deficit spending and raising taxes. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., also criticized Democrats for linking the contentious budget outline with the bipartisan infrastructure package. Democrats had divided over whether to approve infrastructure before the more expansive budget. “Furthermore, I’m greatly disappointed that the House majority has chosen to link the infrastructure bill to a wildly unnecessary, profligate and wasteful Democratic-only budget resolution,” Cole said. “This type of hostage taking makes a mockery of the whole legislative process.” The House approved the budget outline as part of a rule governing floor debate for the $1.2 trillion Senate infrastructure bill and a voting-rights bill named for the late Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon.

The House is expected to vote Tuesday on the voting rights bill. The rule also set a vote on the infrastructure bill no later than Sept. 27. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the head of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told lawmakers Monday his goal is for the House to approve the bill and send it to Biden by Oct. 1, when current highway policy expires. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leaves a Democratic caucus meeting at the Capitol on August 23, 2021 in Washington, D.C. The House has returned from their August recess to vote on the infrastructure and budget reconciliation bills. Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images

The Senate approved the budget outline Aug. 11 on a 50-49 party-line vote.

What comes next

But now comes the hard part, as House and Senate committees fill in the details about how to spend the money. House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth, R-Ky., set a Sept. 15 deadline for 13 committees to return legislation specifying how to spend the $3.5 trillion. The budget resolution protects the anticipated legislation from filibuster in the Senate, allowing a simple majority to approve the legislation in each chamber. “We must act quickly because America cannot wait any longer,” Yarmuth said. One of the most contentious aspects of the budget outline is the plan to raise taxes on corporations and high-income individuals. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the head of the Ways and Means Committee, which handles tax issues and Medicare, said Biden’s proposals are “extraordinarily popular.”

“There’s a long way to go on legislative issues that are going to play out over the next month,” Neal said. “I intend, as the president requested, to pay for it, yes.” But House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., criticized the budget as “garbage” for anticipating an additional $17 trillion in debt over the next decade. “They call it the For the