House passes $3.5 trillion budget plan, aims to vote on infrastructure package by late September

House Democrats on Tuesday approved a roughly $3.5 trillion budget that could enable sweeping changes to the nation’s health-care, education and tax laws, overcoming their own internal divisions to take the next step toward enacting President Biden’s broader economic agenda.

The 220-to-212 party-line vote came after days of delays as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) scrambled to stave off a revolt from her party’s moderate-leaning lawmakers. With the frenzy resolved, the chamber averted what would have been a political embarrassment for the White House and its allies — even as the debacle foreshadowed much tougher fights among Democrats still on the horizon.

The outcome immediately set in motion a laborious effort on Capitol Hill to transform the $3.5 trillion blueprint into a fuller legislative product. Much like the proposal the Senate adopted this month, the House budget is essentially an outline that does not require Biden’s signature. Rather, it is a congressional document that unlocks for Democrats a longer legislative process known as reconciliation — a tactic that allows them to write a tax-and-spending bill that can bypass a Republican filibuster.

As part of the forthcoming package, Democrats have pledged to expand Medicare, invest sizable sums in education and family-focused programs, and devote new funds toward combating climate change — fulfilling many of the party’s 2020 campaign pledges. And they have aimed to finance the tranche of new spending through tax hikes targeting wealthy corporations, families and investors, rolling back tax cuts imposed under President Donald Trump.

“A national budget should be a statement of our national values,” Pelosi said before the House began voting. “And this will be the case.”

‘Curveballs and obstacles’ face Pelosi this week as Democrats spar over $3.5 trillion budget plan

But the House approved its $3.5 trillion plan Tuesday only after a protracted debate that exposed the fractious and fragile nature of the Democratic caucus. Even Biden and his top aides had to intervene this week to break the stalemate within their party, illustrating the perils they may face in shepherding significant new spending along with tax increases to passage in the weeks ahead.