With Vermont’s U.S. Rep. Peter Welch among the 220 Democrats voting yes, the U.S. House early Friday passed a $2.2 trillion domestic budget. If signed into law, it would over the next decade invest in climate change mitigation, reworking the country’s social programs and expanding health care access.
Now, the Build Back Better Act — a hallmark of President Joe Biden’s agenda — heads to its final showdown in the 50-50 divided Senate. Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy, as chairs of the Budget Committee and Appropriations Committee, respectively, have been at the helm of heated negotiations over the budget for weeks.
With a razor-thin majority, they need every member of their party on their side.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has publicly sparred in recent months with moderate U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, both of whom have pushed to scale back proposed social programs in order to tamp down the price tag.
With Republicans all but guaranteed to vote against the bill, any one Democratic senator has the power to sink it.
“That means that any one member can say, ‘Well, you know what, I don’t like that provision,’ and you’ve got to go back to the drawing board,” Sanders said at a Nov. 10 news conference in Vermont. “So this has been an enormously difficult process but … the stakes are enormous, and we cannot fail.”
House Republicans were unanimous in their opposition to the bill on Friday, with the final vote tallied at 220-213.
As the bill heads to his chamber for a vote, Sanders said in a Friday statement that he “hope(s) to see it strengthened in a number of ways” — with provisions to raise taxes on the most wealthy Americans and corporations, lower prescription drug prices, expand Medicare and increase resources toward fighting climate change.
“That’s what we must do,” he said. “The Senate has an opportunity to make this a truly historic piece of legislation. We will listen to the demands of the American people and strengthen the Build Back Better Act.”
Welch celebrated the win for House Democrats, saying in a Friday statement that “our communities will be stronger and better with the passage of this bill.”
“This is a major moment for our country — we are finally committing significant resources to care for our families, lower health care costs, and address the climate crisis,” Welch said. “Whether you voted for Donald Trump or for President Biden, all Vermonters will benefit from access to affordable child care, lower health care costs, and a healthy and safe planet.”
According to a breakdown provided by the White House, Vermont under the budget passed by the House would see major changes in child care accessibility: All 3- and 4-year-olds would be able to attend free, publicly funded preschool, and families making less than 2.5 times the state median income (amounting to about $235,700 for a family of four) would pay a maximum of 7% of their income on child care.
Currently, about 40% of 3- and 4-year-olds in Vermont have access to publicly funded preschool, and the average annual cost of child care for a toddler is nearly $13,700.
The budget would also extend the Child Tax Credit monthly direct payments, expand Medicaid, invest in housing assistance and supply, expand eligibility for free and reduced school meals, and increase Pell Grant allotments to help college costs and more.
