House Passes $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill, Goes To President For Signature

 

 

The legislative logjam broke last night:

House lawmakers late Friday adopted a roughly $1.2 trillion measure to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections, overcoming their own internecine divides to secure a long-sought burst in federal investment and deliver President Biden a major legislative win.

The bipartisan 228-to-206 vote marked the final milestone for the first of two pieces in the president’s sprawling economic agenda. The outcome sends to Biden’s desk an initiative that promises to deliver its benefits to all 50 states, a manifestation of his 2020 campaign pledge to rejuvenate the economy in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and “build back better.”  [snip]

In the end, it was a bipartisan coalition of Democrats with the aid of 13 Republicans that helped propel the infrastructure proposal to passage. When the gavel sounded after 11 p.m., cheers erupted from a mass of members who had crowded around House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). They shared high fives and fist bumps with each other to cap off a tumultuous night.

“Generations from now, people will look back and know this is when America won the economic competition for the 21st Century,” Biden said in a statement lauding its passage.

It's a huge understatement to say Democrats, especially Biden and Pelosi, needed this win.  It's not an understatement to say this is a "big f*cking deal."  In addition, conducting further negotiating with themselves was simply having the effect of reinforcing Republicans' and their media cheerleaders' narrative of a weak president and fractured party on the defensive.  This victory doesn't erase that narrative, but it certainly undercuts it to a great extent.

Here's what's in the bill, which will become law as soon as President Biden signs it.

In a deal worked out with conservaDems in the House, the key Build Back Better human/social infrastructure bill will be scheduled for a vote before November 15, after the Congressional Budget Office's assessment of the impact of the bill on the deficit is provided (this fig leaf should show the same thing that the recent Joint Committee on Taxation's report -- no long term effect).  

This is a big win.  Let's take it, please, and do some crowing.  Then, let's keep the pressure on to pass the Build Back Better Act.

(Photo: Take a victory lap, Madam Speaker / Drew Angerer, Getty Images)