In what would be another major win for Democratic Leadership, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said this morning a vote on the Democrats’ social spending and climate package (text) “hopefully will take place this afternoon.” Pelosi, during her weekly press conference at the Capitol, said the House could vote on a new rule then final passage for the Build Back Better Act this afternoon if the Senate completes its privilege scrub and if the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases the outstanding scores of the bill, which she said she hopes to have before 5 p.m. today. The Speaker said the Senate parliamentarian still has to review provisions from the Ways and Means Committee. Once the White House has that information, the House Rules Committee will then convene to send the final version of the bill to the floor, which will reflect the technical language changes. The lower chamber is waiting to review three remaining CBO reports after a coalition of Democrats demanded that they review official information about the cost of the bill before holding a vote. Cost estimates for the portions of the bill pertaining to 10 committees have already been released. The House will also consider two bills under suspension of the Rules including H.R. 5574 – TRANSLATE Act, as amended. The House will likely recess later today for the long Thanksgiving break returning Tuesday, November 30th after completing its work.
The Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar #144, H.R.4350, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, post-cloture. The Senate voted 84-15 to move the NDAA toward a floor debate, which could start as soon as today. The vote was initially scheduled to take place on Wednesday morning, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) delayed the vote as Republicans threatened to block the bill because Schumer wanted to include anti-China competitiveness legislation in the defense bill. Instead, Schumer and House Speaker Pelosi announced on Wednesday night that they had gotten a deal to go to conference on the competitiveness bill. The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support earlier this year but has stalled in the House, where there are competing proposals.
