House of Representatives Passes $ 3.5 Trillion Plan to Reinforce Biden's Social Agenda

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill, Washington. J.

Scott Applewhite / AP

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a key step to advance the $ 3.5 trillion [2.9 trillion euro] budget of the Joe Biden Administration's social agenda. The vote of the 220 Democratic congressmen in favor and the 212 Republicans against is a sign of the paved road that the Government has ahead to carry out its domestic plans. The session was delayed for several days due to a split within the Democratic Party itself, prompted by a group of moderates who wanted Congress to give the infrastructure bill the green light first. Finally, that initiative will be voted on at the end of September.

Biden's social agenda includes reforms to promote the fight against climate change and poverty, expand social security for the elderly (Medicare), and invest in education, among others. The funds to carry out the project will be obtained from a rise in taxes on the wealthiest and large companies. The progressives wanted to give this plan a budget priority before accepting the $ 1.2 trillion package focused on investing in roads, transportation networks or access to broadband. A dozen moderate Democrats publicly expressed their desire to reverse the order of the voting.

"We are not just building the physical infrastructure of the United States, we are building the human infrastructure of the United States," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic leader managed to calm the rebellion of some of her colleagues by designing an initiative to unite the social budget with the infrastructure project in the same vote. The proposal stipulated that the bipartisan package will be voted on no later than September 27.

Pelosi's management managed to unblock the negotiations and take a great burden off Biden, who is already cornered by criticism of the operation to evacuate foreign troops from Afghanistan. The crisis in the Central Asian country has given Republicans arguments to launch their darts at the Democratic Administration. "We shouldn't do anything else on this floor [of Congress] until all Americans are home," said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader.

Republicans are expected to reject en bloc the socially focused budget plan to be voted on in late fall.

Pelosi has made it a goal that both the social item and the infrastructure plan are approved by October 1.

Democrats want to pass the reforms through a mechanism called reconciliation, which allows them to push through the laws with a simple minority rather than by 60 out of 100 votes in the Senate.

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