Build Back Better Act passes in the House but faces tougher test in Senate

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris congratulated each other prior to signing the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Friday.

In a narrow 220-213 vote, the House passed President Biden’s $1.9 trillion legislation Friday to invest in families, health care, climate change mitigation, affordable housing, small businesses, immigration, and other infrastructure.  

Passing the House was the easy part.

The Build Back Better Act that passed amid cheers and sighs of relief from Democrats but face a more severe test in the Senate where two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin of Virginia and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema have not approved the bill.

“The Build Back Better Act will make some of the largest investments in AAPI communities in our country’s history, from affordable child care and paid leave to home-based care and climate change," said Rep. Judy Chu, part of the progressive caucus that pushed for approval of the bill. 

RELATED: How the Build Back Better Act will help AAPI families

"But even as we make it easier for parents to go back to work, families are continuing to struggle with high prices and soaring healthcare costs. That’s why this landmark bill makes the Child Tax Credit permanently refundable, ensuring that the neediest families continue to receive this support over the long run," said Chu. 

"This bill provides much-needed relief to our AAPI immigrant communities by providing work permits and protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants who have been here prior to 2011, and addresses our burgeoning visa backlog by recapturing family and employment based visas.

“This bill will also make historic investments in affordable housing, small business relief, higher education, and healthcare that will have direct benefits our communities, including expanding coverage for uninsured AAPI families, address skyrocketing drug prices, and adding hearing coverage for AAPI people on Medicare," she continued.

Its fate in the Senate remains unclear. Manchin, in particular, claims to be wary of the bill's cost, even though his state, West Virginia, one of the poorest in the nation, would benefit from the programs strengthened by the bill.

Manchin and Sinema's votes are critical and Democrats might trim down the Senate version in order to secure the two senators' votes, necessary in a Senate split 50-50.

Manchin said earlier this week that he was waiting for the analysis from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which finished its study Thursday. The CBO  estimates that the measure would result in a net increase of $367 billion to the deficit between 2022 and 2031. 

The House's vote on Build Back Better comes days after passing the $1 trillion Infrastructure and Investment Act that will fund updating of the nation's crumbling roads, bridges, and rails; expand access to clean drinking water; work to ensure access to high-speed Internet throughout the Nation; and tackle the climate crisis. President Biden signed the infrastructure act Friday.

Republicans' sudden concern for the budget ring hollow considering they were silent when Trump ran the deficit up to record levels. When Trump took office in January 2017, the national debt stood at $19.9 trillion. Two months after the Trumps moved into the White House, the national debt reached a new high of $28 trillion, a 35% increase.

The White House, however, insists that the bill will be fully paid for. It says it can make up the shortfall because the bill includes funding for better enforcement of Internal Revenue Service tax collecting, specifically collecting tax payments from the top 1% income earners.

The AAPI community advocates praised the bill's passage in the House but realize the battle will heat up in the Senate.

“The Build Back Better Act includes many important provisions that invest in future technologies and the next generation of work, especially when it comes to electric vehicles," says Sandra Engle, Secretary of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.

"We must re-invest in domestic manufacturing with union workers making the vehicles of the future," saind Engle. "This bill recognizes that union bargained-for wages and benefits are an important and valuable contribution to our communities and economy.” 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.