"House Democrats are preparing to take the first steps Monday toward adopting a roughly $3.5 trillion spending plan that would enable sweeping changes to the nation’s health care, education and tax laws, but new rifts among party lawmakers threaten to stall the package’s swift advance.
The budget blueprint encompasses many of Democrats’ most cherished policy promises from the 2020 campaign, including pledges to expand Medicare, rethink immigration, and spend new sums to combat climate change. Its adoption this week would inch Congress closer to delivering on President Biden’s broader economic agenda.
But the fate of that vote appears in doubt, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) continues to grapple with persistent political divides among her own fractious caucus. Despite wide-ranging support for some of the new spending, the party’s liberal and centrist wings remain at odds over how exactly to proceed, raising the potential for defections that Democrats simply cannot afford in a chamber where they hold only a slim advantage."
Tony Romm reports for the Washington Post August 22, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"U.S. Infrastructure Bill Aims To Cool Heat Inequity In Cities" (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
"Pelosi Sets Oct 1 Target For Infrastructure, Biden Spending Bill" (Reuters)
"Will Waxman-Markey’s Lessons Guide Greens In Climate Fight?" (E&E News)
"Uncertainty On Reconciliation As House Returns" (E&E News)
"House Centrists Dig In Against Pelosi, Biden Strategy" (E&E News)
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