In a vote held Friday morning, the House of Representatives passed President Biden's $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better" budget by a margin of 220 to 213.
After months of infighting among Democrat members of the House, Speaker Pelosi finally managed to bring the Build Back Better Act to the floor and held almost all of her caucus in line for the vote with just one Democrat —Maine Representative Jared Golden — joining every Republican member in voting against the Build Back Better Act.
A) Dem ME Rep Golden says he will vote nay on the social spending bill "but that doesn’t mean I will oppose a final version of this bill if some meaningful changes are made to this legislation.” Adds his vote "today is not the final word."
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 19, 2021
The vote came after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy successfully delayed the final vote by undertaking a marathon floor speech that lasted more than eight hours — from 8:38 p.m. Thursday until 5:10 a.m. Friday. One final procedural attempt to kill the budget bill by Republicans failed Friday morning just before the House voted on final passage.
Even though the White House maintains that Biden's social spending bill is "paid for" and will "cost zero dollars," a final score released Thursday evening by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found the Build Back Better Act would cause a net increase in the national deficit totaling $367 billion, not counting additional tax revenue that may be generated by Democrat plans to ramp up IRS enforcement. But that didn't stop Speaker Pelosi from repeating the claim that Biden's budget is "fully paid for" in a floor speech preceding Friday morning's vote.
Pelosi: Build Back Better is fully paid for. It reduces the deficit and grows the economy.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 19, 2021
Pelosi also claimed the president's woke budget would not make the lasting inflation Americans have seen under the Biden administration worse, a notion Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) contested in an interview Friday morning: "It's going to make our inflation pressures worse," Donalds said. "It's going to destroy the purchasing power of Americans even more than anything that Joe Biden has already done."
The conservative Republican Study Committee also slammed the Build Back Better Act's passage, saying Biden's budget "would be devastating for our economy and families across the country."
Dems just passed the largest expansion of government in modern history. It puts the government in charge of everything from your child’s daycare to your personal bank account.
— RSC (@RepublicanStudy) November 19, 2021
The consequences of this bill would be devastating for our economy and families across the country.
Toward the end of the vote, Florida Rep. Kat Cammack declared her "hell no" vote against Biden's "Build Back Broke" budget and finished with a defiant, yet prescient message for Democrats: "Good luck in the Senate," where the bill faces an uphill battle against the reservations of Democrats Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) has promised a vote on Biden's budget before the end of the year.
Freshman Rep. Kat Cammack when at the mics to announce proxy votes called BBB plan "Build Back Broke," which got boos from the Dem side.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) November 19, 2021