After delay and false starts, House approves infrastructure bill in win for Biden

The House late Friday approved a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill and sent it to President Biden, handing his administration a long-sought win after months of messy negotiations.

But lawmakers set aside for now a larger social spending bill amid continued Democrat infighting between House progressives and Senate moderates led by Joe Manchin of West Virginia. 

The 228-206 vote came hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was forced for the third time to postpone a planned vote on the legislation. There were 6 Democrats who voted against the infrastructure bill and 13 Republicans who voted for it.

The plan to vote fell apart after moderates in the House Democratic Conference demanded the Congressional Budget Office provide a cost analysis, or "score" for the companion, nearly $2 trillion climate change and social spending bill.

Then hours later, House leaders and Biden struck a deal to get the infrastructure bill passed while delaying a vote on the social bill until mid-month.

Before finishing the night, the House also passed a rule governing how the social bill will be brought to the floor, most likely in a couple of weeks  

On two previous occasions, Pelosi planned to put the bipartisan infrastructure legislation up for a full vote and House progressives opposed the move, insisting that the bill should be linked to the Build Back Better Act.

House Republicans also have called for a full CBO score of the Build Back Better Act before passage.