House Progressive Caucus Backs Scaled-back Build Back Better Act
Actress and Democratic activist Alyssa Milano tweeted out a thread of the initiatives which survived the cuts
The House Progressive Caucus swallowed a bitter pill and came out to give its backing to the final, much-reduced framework for the Build Back Better Act announced Thursday.
Originally tagged at $3.5 trillion, Democrats spent the last several weeks bargaining for the crucial support of two Senate Democratic holdouts, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
In a Senate in which the Democratic majority is just 50 senators, the support of each and every one is critical to pass legislation.
In the end, what was agreed to only amounts to about half of the original amount, at $1.75 trillion.
However, passing the Build Back Better Act is the Democrats' best chance to enact much of President Biden's domestic agenda ahead of next year's midterm elections.
The Build Back Better Act will move along with the smaller bipartisan infrastructure bill which already cleared the Senate.
“The Congressional Progressive Caucus just overwhelmingly voted to endorse, in principle, the entire Build Back Better Act framework announced by President Biden today. We appreciate the President’s leadership and his commitment to getting this process over the finish line,” Rep Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said in a statement. “He reaffirmed, as our Caucus has month after month, that both the infrastructure bill and the popular Build Back Better Act must move together because they are part of the same agenda. Today, we are reiterating our enthusiastic commitment to delivering that entire agenda to people across America.
“The reality is that while talks around the infrastructure bill lasted months in the Senate, there has only been serious discussion around the specifics of the larger Build Back Better Act in recent weeks, thanks to the Progressive Caucus holding the line and putting both parts of the agenda back on the table,” her statement added. “Now, Congress needs to finish the job and bring both bills to a vote together. This cannot be accomplished without legislative text that can be fully assessed and agreed upon by all parties, including 218 Representatives and all 50 senators in the Democratic Caucus. There is too much at stake for working families and our communities to settle for something that can be later misunderstood, amended, or abandoned altogether. That is why dozens of our members insist on keeping both bills linked and cannot vote only for one until they can be voted on together.
“Members of our Caucus will not vote for the infrastructure bill without the Build Back Better Act. We will work immediately to finalize and pass both pieces of legislation through the House together,” the statement said.
One of initiatives not able to survive was a signature Biden policy — paid family leave.
Still, actress and Democratic activist Alyssa Milano chose to tweet the upside.
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