Build Back Better bill passes House, moving to 50-50 Senate for another uphill climb
It's official — after a much-delayed vote thanks to a quasi-filibuster from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House officially passed President Biden's sweeping spending package 220-213, "approving $2 trillion in spending over the next decade to battle climate change, expand health care, and reweave the nation's social safety net," per The New York Times. All Republicans and 1 Democrat voted against the legislation.
The measure's passage comes about two weeks after Congress passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Biden signed into law on Monday.
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The bill will now move to the Senate, where Democratic leaders have the difficult job of uniting a 50-50 chamber, unable to lose even one vote. The process "is almost certain to reshape the measure and force it back to the House — if it passes at all," per the Times.
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