WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The House of Representatives is aiming pass Democrats’ nearly $2 trillion Build Back Better spending plan as early as Thursday night, but it still faces challenges in the Senate.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she’s not worried moderate senators like Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., could derail plans to put the package on President Joe Biden’s desk by the end of the year.
“I feel that we’re probably in good shape,” Pelosi said.
Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri hope Manchin and Sinema will put up a fight and force changes to the spending plan.
“We’ll see if Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, with this runaway inflation, if they want to go ahead and tax middle-class families, if they want to cancel our energy independence,” Hawley said.
Manchin said he opposes a paid leave provision in the House version.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said her party must deliver on child care and climate reform for the American people.
“I am concerned about potential changes, but the last time I checked Mitch McConnell was not the leader of the majority party in the Senate,” she said. “There’s a lot that’s in this bill and we’re going to keep working on it.”
Pelosi said whatever happens in the Senate, she’s confident the final version “will still be transformative and historic.”
