US Senate passed $ 3.5 trillion budget without Republican opposition support

Democrats in the United States approved this Wednesday morning a $ 3.5 trillion budget plan strengthen family services, health and environment programs. The Senate vote fueled President Joe Biden’s ambitious plan to reshape federal priorities.

The vote came hours after the president scored yet another victory with the approval of a large infrastructure package in the upper house.

Lawmakers embraced party divisions and adopted Democratic budget resolution 50-49, a milestone for a president and party determined to lead the government’s fiscal force to help families, create jobs and fight climate change. Raising taxes on the rich and on corporations would pay for a large part of the project. The spending plan was approved despite an avalanche of Republican amendments that wanted rivals to pay a price in next year’s election for control of Congress..

House leaders have announced they will return from summer recess in two weeks to vote on the budget, which plans to spend $ 3.5 trillion over the next decade. The apparently certain final approval by Congress would protect a later law that would apply the details of spending and tax changes to a possible Republican obstruction campaign in a 50% split Senate., a delay that could otherwise kill the project.

The project proposes to make the country’s largest investment in decades in roads, bridges, airports and waterways. But the measure faces a uncertain future in the House of Representatives. Passage of this subsequent legislation will be complicated as moderate party lawmakers are concerned about the massive volume of the plan and are fighting against the progressives, who demand aggressive action..

The Democratic Party controls the House of Representatives with just three marginal votes, while the two-split Senate is only in their hands thanks to the decisive vote of Vice President Kamala Harris. The strong Republican opposition seems justified.

The Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Bernie sandersA Vermont independent, who rose from a progressive voice on the fringes of Congress to a key post with legislative influence, said the measure would help children, families, seniors and workers, among others. “I am confident that it will also restore the faith of the American people in the belief that we can have a government that works for all of us, not just a few,” he said.

The republicans They argued that the Democratic proposal would waste money, hurt the economy with its tax hike, boost inflation, and enshrine far-left principles detrimental to Americans. They enthusiastically told Sanders, who describes himself as a Democratic Socialist, to try to smear all Democrats who backed the initiative.

If Biden and Senate Democrats want to “outsource national politics to President Sanders” with “historic waste and reckless taxation,” Republicans have no voice to stop them, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted , Republican of Kentucky. “But we will debate. We will vote ”.

The Senate focused on the budget hours after passing another key piece of Biden’s goals, a negotiated trillion-dollar bipartisan package for transportation, water, broadband and other projects. infrastructure. This proposal, adopted by 69 votes for and 30 against, with McConnell among the 19 Republicans who supported him, must also pass to the lower house.

The bills have been a top priority for Biden, who has attempted to pass sweeping changes over fears of losing legislative control in the 2022 election. Democrats plan to pass the tax package with the help of a a process called “budget reconciliation”. by simple majority of votes.

Surveys show that the initiative to improve the infrastructure of the United States, developed for months by senators of both parties, enjoys great popularity among the population. The bill passed on Tuesday includes $ 550 billion in new spending, as well as $ 450 billion in previously approved infrastructure investments.

(With information from AP and Reuters)

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