After daylong standoff, Democrats reach deal to advance Biden agenda

Democrats in the US House of Representatives reached a tentative agreement on Friday that could allow them to pass the two massive spending bills that account for most of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda.

At Biden's urging, progressives and centrists in the party agreed to end a standoff that had halted progress on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a $1.75 trillion social policy and climate change bill for more than 12 hours.

The House moved quickly to vote on one of them, the $1 trillion package of roads, broadband and other infrastructure projects after progressives promised to support it.

Centrists, in turn, promised to back the $1.75 trillion package of social spending and climate programs as long as nonpartisan analysts find that the White House has accurately described its cost - a process that could take weeks. The House planned a procedural vote on that package for later on Friday.

"Welcome to my world. This is the Democratic Party," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters earlier in the day. "We are not a lockstep party."

Also Read | Rebel Democrats tank vote on Joe Biden's welfare package

The two pieces of legislation include the biggest upgrade of America's roads, bridges and airports in a generation and the largest expansion of social programs since the 1960s.

The standoff came just days after Democrats suffered losses in closely watched state elections, raising concerns that they may lose control of Congress next year.

Biden called lawmakers to urge them to pass the transportation package, which has already won approval in the Senate.

Aim to move forward

The party is eager to show it can move forward on the president's agenda and fend off Republicans in the 2022 midterm elections in which Republicans will seek to regain control of Congress from the Democrats.

The House and Senate are due to be out next week. A group of five centrists said they would support a vote on the social spending package by Nov. 20.

Congress also faces looming Dec. 3 deadlines to avert a politically embarrassing government shutdown and an economically catastrophic default on the federal government's debt.

With razor-thin majorities in Congress and a united Republican opposition, Democrats need unity to pass legislation.

The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August with 19 Republican votes, would fund a massive upgrade of America's roads, bridges, airports, seaports and rail systems, while also expanding broadband internet service.

The "Build Back Better" package includes provisions on child care and preschool, eldercare, healthcare, prescription drug pricing and immigration.

It would bolster the credibility of Biden's pledge to halve US greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 during the UN climate conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

Republicans uniformly oppose that legislation, casting it as a dramatic expansion of government that would hurt businesses.

"This is potentially a very black day for America," said Republican Representative Glenn Grothman, who characterized the legislation's child-care and preschool provisions as a "Marxist" effort to have the federal government raise children.

The nonpartisan US Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the social-spending bill would raise $1.48 trillion in new tax revenue over the next decade, short of its $1.75 trillion cost.

Pelosi and other top Democrats have said that fails to account for increased tax enforcement and savings from lower prescription drug prices.