House Democrats were preparing on Thursday evening to advance President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan, a $1.85 trillion social welfare spending bill they hope will help revive party approval ratings by providing a new array of government services and subsidies.

Democrats moved to vote on a procedural measure to advance the bill, clearing the way to final House passage. The effort came after the Congressional Budget Office issued a long-awaited final analysis of the legislation that found it would add to federal deficits but nevertheless was favorable enough for the White House to make the case that the bill is fiscally responsible.

The procedural vote would advance the bill toward final passage later Thursday and send the measure to the Senate, where it faces likely changes under special rules Democrats plan to employ in order to pass the legislation without needing any Republican votes and from Senate centrists who are concerned with the price tag and the creation of new entitlements.

The nonpartisan agency reported to Congress that the Build Back Better measure will add $160 billion to the deficit over the next decade. Democrats and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, though, claimed that the bill would not widen deficits at all, arguing that the provisions in the bill for boosting IRS enforcement would bring in more revenue than the budget office estimated.

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Pelosi, ahead of the vote to advance the measure, sent a memo to fellow Democrats arguing the CBO score is “good news.” Pelosi said the CBO’s lower revenue numbers estimated from new tax enforcement “have long been known and anticipated” and “will not be an issue.”

Fellow Democrats agreed and praised the bill as a transformative measure that will help working-class families with free preschool, new healthcare subsidies, paid family leave, an extension of the expanded child tax credit, and green energy policies that Democrats say are needed to deal with “the climate crisis.”

“This is a statement of our values,” House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said. “This is what we are for.”

Republicans unanimously oppose the measure, arguing it would aggravate already high inflation and damage the economy with policies that discourage work and hurt businesses with higher taxes and energy prices.

During the debate on the House floor, GOP lawmakers pointed to Biden’s low approval ratings, which have continued to sink since last summer amid rising inflation and other domestic problems.

“Democrats are doubling down on these failed tax policies that will make Joe Biden’s economic crisis even worse than it is now,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Pennsylvania Republican.

Original Location: Democrats move toward vote on Biden social welfare and climate bill

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