WASHINGTON (Reuters) -White House economic adviser Brian Deese on Monday said he expects lawmakers to work through issues with Democrats’ social spending bill this week and vote on the measure in the U.S. House of Representatives next week.
“We anticipate we are going to work through some of the scoring issues this week, and anticipate and are looking forward to a vote in the House next week,” Deese, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC in an interview.
House Democrats over the weekend allowed the $1.75 trillion bill covering education, healthcare, climate change and other areas to clear a procedural hurdle after passing a separate $1 trillion bipartisan bill that addresses the nation’s roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure.
The move would allow House leaders to set up a quick final vote on the domestic spending bill after a group of centrist Democrats said they first wanted to see an analysis on the bill’s costs by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Deese on Monday said he expected the CBO’s findings would line up with White House estimates.
Having the infrastructure legislation pass “gives us some momentum,” he told CNBC, adding: “We’ll move this process forward.”
The narrowly divided Senate would still have to pass the domestic spending plan before U.S. President Joe Biden could sign it into law. Biden on Saturday said he would sign the now-passed infrastructure bill soon in a formal ceremony.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
