WASHINGTON — House Democrats worked to resolve lingering differences on a $1.75 trillion tax and spending bill and Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled she is still rounding up the votes to bring the legislation to the floor.
Pelosi was aiming to hold a vote on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda Thursday and one on a separate bipartisan infrastructure bill on Friday, according to lawmakers who attended a meeting of House Democrats Thursday.
At a later news conference, Pelosi said the House would pass both measures, but deflected questions about the schedule and whether all Democrats were on board to hold a vote.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I wish to,” she said. “Our members are engaged in a very thoughtful deliberation.”
Although much of the bill has been written, there was last-minute wrangling over a plan to raise the limit on deductions for state and local taxes and on immigration.
Pelosi said the House will vote on a proposal to grant deportation relief to undocumented immigrants rather than a pathway to citizenship, given that the Senate parliamentarian has so far indicated the pathway idea is not eligible for the budget bill.
“It doesn’t seem to have a big prospect in the Senate,” Pelosi said of a pathway to citizenship. “We don’t want to have members vote on something that doesn’t have a good prospect in the Senate and is controversial.”
On SALT, New Jersey Rep. Tom Malinowski said that the House will vote on his proposal to raise the $10,000 state and local tax deduction cap to $72,500 and let the Senate sort out whether it can support that.
The Joint Committee on Taxation on Thursday released an analysis that concluded the bill would raise $1.5 trillion in new taxes.
That’s short of the $1.75 trillion Democrats say they want to spend, but doesn’t include revenue from increasing Internal Revenue Service enforcement or additional savings from a drug pricing deal that would allow the federal government to negotiate prescription prices. The Congressional Budget Office hasn’t yet published its analysis.
Fiscally conservative Democrats have said they want to see analyses of the bill’s costs from both the JCT and the CBO before proceeding with a vote on the bill, though it was unclear whether that was holding up action on Thursday.
“There may be some amendments but I don’t think we are in a position where major things will be added,” Malinowski said. “We can’t keep waiting until everybody has agreed to precisely the same language.”
Even if the House votes before the weekend, it is likely that the Senate will take longer to work on the measure. Any changes made in that chamber then will have to be voted on by the House.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said senators will strive to act on the legislation “before Thanksgiving,” which is Nov. 25.
But even that schedule may be ambitious. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who has fought to trim the size of the package, continues to object to provisions favored by the House, such as paid family leave and immigration. He also said he wants a clearer assessment of the impact of the expansive tax and spending package on inflation and debt.
“I have a lot of concerns, let’s put it that way,” Manchin said Wednesday night on Fox News. “They’re working off the House bill. That’s not going to be the bill I work off of.”