WASHINGTON—The House was expected to narrowly pass a measure Tuesday locking in a late September vote on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill and passing a $3.5 trillion budget framework, closing a rift with centrist Democrats over how to move forward with President Biden’s legislative agenda.
House Democratic leaders had made a series of late changes to win the support of party centrists, who had earlier balked at approving the budget blueprint without voting first on the infrastructure bill.
Approval of the budget blueprint is the first procedural step in unlocking a process to muscle through a $3.5 trillion education, healthcare and climate package in the Senate without GOP support.
House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern (D., Mass.) on Tuesday changed the procedural motion, known as a rule, to specify that the House would consider the infrastructure bill on Sept. 27, if it hadn’t already done so. Democrats on Monday beefed up the rule so that it actually passes the $3.5 trillion budget framework at the same time.
That commitment marks a shift from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), who had previously said the House wouldn’t vote on the infrastructure bill until after the Senate had passed the $3.5 trillion budget package, an effort to tie the two bills together to keep the party’s centrist and liberal wings invested in the passage of both bills.
