Democrat-led House planning to vote on Biden's $2T social spending bill by Friday: Hoyer

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates Biden's reconciliation bill will double in cost if the policies inside of it are made permanent

By Nicholas Ballasy

Published: November 16, 2021 3:01pm

Updated: November 16, 2021 4:18pm

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Tuesday that House leadership plans to hold a vote on final passage of President Biden's $2 trillion Build Back Better Act by Friday at the latest.

Biden's social spending bill contains new federal benefit programs and about $550 billion for climate change initiatives.

"I expect to consider most of the debate, perhaps not all, but most of the debate on Build Back Better on Tuesday, excuse me, on Wednesday, today's Tuesday, on Wednesday, tomorrow," Hoyer said during a news conference.

"And then I expect to vote on the Build Back Better, final passage, either at the earliest Thursday, and hopefully the latest on Friday," he added.

Moderate Democrats have called for a Congressional Budget Office “score" of the legislation ahead of a final vote. Hoyer said lawmakers should be able to get an idea of the "fiscal posture" of the Build Back Better Act in that designated timeframe this week but cautioned it doesn’t mean an official score will definitely be ready.

"As soon as that happens, which does not necessarily mean a CBO score; it does not necessarily mean that every I and every T is crossed. But it does mean that the overwhelming information will be available to members so that when they do vote, they will have that information but I expect to vote on the Build Back Better Act as soon as that information is available," Hoyer said.

"And I expect that to be either at the earliest Thursday and at the latest either Friday or Saturday. But my expectation is that we will vote on this either Thursday or Friday. Obviously the Thanksgiving break is about to occur and I told members that they would be out of here on Thursday but we're going to be here as long as it takes to pass this bill this week," he added.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that Biden's reconciliation bill will double in cost to about $4.79 trillion if the policies inside of it are made permanent.