Democrats rescued President Joe Biden’s faltering domestic agenda Friday, passing a giant infrastructure package that is one of the pillars of his $3 trillion economic vision after rebel moderates had earlier blocked a vote on his social welfare expansion.
Despite hours of cajoling lawmakers, party leaders had risked seeing Biden’s two-pronged legislative strategy collapse as they failed to unite the party’s feuding progressive and moderate factions.
But the breakthrough came as lawmakers rubber-stamped the Senate-passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill on the House floor by a comfortable 228 votes to 206.
The passage of the infrastructure spending marks a legacy-making achievement for Biden, amid plunging personal approval ratings and a humiliating upset defeat for his Democratic Party in the Virginia gubernatorial election.
