WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - The US House of Representatives is expected to vote on Friday (Nov 5) on the social policy and climate-change Bill and a bipartisan infrastructure Bill that form the centrepiece of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda, a senior Democratic aide said on Thursday.
Democrats have missed previous self-imposed deadlines to vote on the legislation, but their leadership feels confident they can finish on Friday, the aide said.
Earlier on Thursday night, Mr Biden was calling various House members and urging them to approve the US$1.75 trillion (S$2.36 trillion) reconciliation Bill, a White House official said.
Democrats want to pass the Bill and the US$1 trillion infrastructure measure that has already been approved by the Senate by Thanksgiving later this month.
Mr Biden left for Europe last week for a meeting of G-20 leaders and a U.N. climate conference without a deal on the legislation.
An affirmative vote before the conclusion of the climate conference in Glasgow on Nov 12 would bolster the credibility of Mr Biden's pledge to cut US greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.
Democrats are reeling from a disappointing loss in Virginia this week when a Republican won the governor's office in a state Mr Biden won handily in 2020.
The nonpartisan US Joint Committee on Taxation issued a report scoring the "Build Back Better" legislation's tax revenue provisions at US$1.48 trillion over the next decade.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said the Joint Committee on Taxation's analysis did not account for additional revenue from provisions intended to enhance the Internal Revenue Service's tax collection and to lower the cost of prescription drugs for the Medicare healthcare programme for the elderly.
"It's an objective view that it is solidly paid for," Ms Pelosi told reporters after a meeting of House Democrats on the legislation.
Moody's Analytics analysts said on Thursday the Bills would be fully paid for and add jobs, but that implementing them would take "deft governance."
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a statement saying the legislation would raise more than US$2 trillion, enough to pay for the Bill and "reduce deficits over the long term."
The tax committee assesses only the tax provisions in legislation. The Congressional Budget Office, another nonpartisan arm of Congress, is expected to provide revenue scores for the IRS and drug-pricing provisions, Democrats said.
But a final CBO report is not expected this week.
In a meeting with fellow Democrats on Thursday morning, Ms Pelosi expressed hope for action on both bills this week, a source familiar with her remarks said.
If passed by the House, the social policy legislation would move to the Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to enact it before the Nov 25 Thanksgiving holiday.
The legislation would raise US$640 billion from tax increases on high-income individuals and US$814 billion from corporate and international tax reforms from 2022 to 2031, the Joint Committee on Taxation said.
Congress faces another pair of critical deadlines in less than a month: Lawmakers set a Dec 3 deadline to avoid a potentially economically devastating default on the federal government's debt, as well as to avert a politically embarrassing government shutdown.
