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Democrats have passed their roughly $1.75 trillion social and climate spending package.
Most Republicans rejected the massive spending bill. It passed largely along party lines at 220-213.
The social spending measure is reportedly the largest expansion to the social safety net in 50 years.
The bill contains $555 billion for climate and clean energy investments.
Joe Biden calls this bill his “Build Back Better Act.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced its passage by saying, “If you’re a mom, a dad, a family caregiver or the rest — this bill is for you.”
“If you care about the planet and how we pass it on to our children, this bill is for you.”
According to ABC, Democrats on the floor applauded and chanted “Nancy! Nancy!”
The bill claims to reduce the cost of some prescription drugs, extend the child tax credit, provide universal pre-kindergarten for 3-and 4-year olds, allow four weeks of paid family and medical leave, build affordable housing, expand Medicare coverage, and create “clean energy” jobs
Biden called Pelosi from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he was getting a physical, including a routine colonoscopy, to congratulate her.
Biden said, “Above all, it puts us on the path to build our economy back better than before by rebuilding the backbone of America: working people and the middle class.”
“For the second time in just two weeks, the House of Representatives has moved on critical and consequential pieces of my legislative agenda,” he said.
More from ABC:
Now that it’s passed the House, the Senate is expected to amend the proposal in the coming weeks after the Thanksgiving recess as Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have not committed to the package in its current form.
Taking a victory lap, Pelosi downplayed any potential disputes with Senate Democrats over the final product and projected total confidence that the bill will make it to Biden’s desk following any changes in the Senate.
“It’s called the legislative process,” Pelosi said. “At the end of the day, we will have a great bill.”
Since congressional Democrats plan to pass the measure through reconciliation — a lengthy budget process that would not require any Republican support since Democrats have a narrow majority in both chambers — the legislation still has a long way to go, including back to the House, before it would hit Biden’s desk.
In the House, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the only Democrat to oppose the package, signaling opposition to a provision to raise the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes that could benefit high-earning homeowners. Democrats could afford to lose three votes and still pass the legislation. Not a single Republican supported it.
Overnight, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., took the floor for more than eight hours to rail against the bill and Democrats’ agenda, breaking a record previously held by Pelosi for the longest House floor speech, knocking Democrats off their plans to approve the measure late Thursday evening, in a show to his conference that he’s fighting for the GOP on his quest to become speaker.
