Representative Kevin McCarthy said that if the Senate passes the legislation and it comes back to the House, that the Republicans will have “another bite at the apple” to defeat President Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan.
“If it fails in the Senate, it dies. But if the Senate changes it, any of those changes, has to come back to the House. So we have another bite at the apple here,” said McCarthy, the House minority leader who previously delayed a vote on it.
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He spoke on the House floor overnight last Friday for 8 hours and 33 minutes to stall a vote on the social spending plan, and he did so because the American people need to know what’s in the Democrats’ legislation: “I want people to know what’s in the bill. I want people to know what they are doing - that this big government socialism isn’t working.”
McCarthy was also referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by saying: “Remember what AOC yelled at me from the back of the room when I quoted Congresswoman [Abigail] Spanberger, who said. ‘We did not elect Joe Biden to be FDR’ to give us a New Deal. AOC screamed, ’I did.’ It is the socialist wing of the Democratic Party that has taken over. Never before in American history has a bill so big gone through.”
On the other side, Democratic Senator Jon Tester warned his colleagues to be ready to “compromise” as he admitted that there will be “changes” to the House’s version when it comes to the Senate, adding that the chamber has a “great opportunity to do some great things” on providing childcare, fighting climate change, lowering health care and prescription drug costs.
“And I think if we compromise like we did in the bipartisan infrastructure package where we had five Democrats and five Republicans that argued, and fought, and came to a bill that would work, I think it’s the same thing within the 50 Democrats, too. We don’t all see the world the same way,” said Tester, continuing: “So let’s negotiate and let’s come up with a bill that lowers costs for families, and cuts taxes, and gets things done to help move this economy forward so we can stay the premier power in the world.”
When asked if he was a supporter of the legislation without regard for the details, he responded: “Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. It’s going to come over from the House. There are going to be some changes. I’m going to compare it to what Montana needs, and that’s going to be where I focus on. But, look, we’re dealing with reasonable people here. I think we can come up with a bill that is a very, very good bill that works for states like Montana and other states in the union.”
The Build Back Better plan was passed by the House on Friday by a 220-213 vote, but its price tag has been the subject of a raging debate. The Democrats have cited the bill’s 10-year cost at $1.85 trillion, while The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill at $1.68 trillion.
But in real life, closer to $5 trillion is the number independent analyses have claimed if temporary programs and tax credits are extended through 2031.