01/20/2022

Biden Open to Passing BBB Piecemeal

It has stalled in the Senate due to its high price tag

This week, President Joe Biden suggested that lawmakers work to split up his high-profile Build Back Better (BBB) Act into smaller bills that can win support more easily than the $1.7 trillion social and climate spending package that has stalled in the Senate.

"I think we can break the package up," Biden said yesterday. "Get as much as we can now and fight for the rest later."

Biden cited the climate and clean energy provisions as a place where Congress can find consensus quickly. House Democrats running for reelection in swing districts have asked leadership to move on politically popular provisions that could help them in the midterm elections. These Democrats want votes on curbing prescription drug prices and extending the child tax credit as well as the climate provisions Biden mentioned.

"The climate and clean energy provisions in Build Back Better have been largely worked through and financed, so let's start there and add any of the other important provisions to support working families that can meet the 50-vote threshold," Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) told POLITICO on Wednesday.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whose vote is crucial to moving any BBB provisions in the Senate, has been on record in support of billions in climate spending, funding for universal pre-K and a billionaire tax.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of A and Inroads.