House Passes $2 Trillion Spending Bill With Big Health Measures

The Washington Post: House Passes Roughly $2 Trillion Spending Package To Expand Social Benefits And Fight Climate Change
More than a year after President Biden clinched the White House on a pledge to “build back better,” House Democrats delivered on that promise, voting to approve more than $2 trillion in spending initiatives that would overhaul federal health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws. The measure adopted Friday amounts to a dramatic re-envisioning of the role of government in Americans’ daily lives. It sets aside in some cases historic sums to aid workers, families and businesses, seeking to rewire the very fabric of an economy still recovering from the financial devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. (Romm, 11/19)

AP: Dems' Sweeping Social, Climate Bill Passes Divided House
The House approved the legislation by a near party-line 220-213 vote, sending the measure to a Senate where cost-cutting demands by moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and that chamber’s strict rules seem certain to force significant changes. That will prompt fresh disputes between party centrists and progressives that will likely take weeks to resolve. Even so, House passage marked a watershed for a measure remarkable for the breadth and depth of the changes it would make in federal policies. Wrapped into one bill are far-reaching changes in taxation, health care, energy, climate change, family services, education and housing. That shows the Democrats’ desire to achieve their goals while controlling the White House and Congress, a dominance that could end after next year’s midterm elections. (Fram, 11/19)

Politico: 'Whole Different Ballgame': Dems Vow They've Learned Obamacare Lessons In Messaging $1.7T Megabill
A huge boost to the nation’s safety net. A looming midterm with the majority on the brink. A flood of GOP attack ads. That’s where House Democrats hope the similarities end between now and 2010. As they take their first pass at President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion social spending bill, House Democrats are gambling that its medley of popular family, health care and climate proposals can steer them toward a radically different political fate than eleven years ago -- when a historic electoral wipeout followed the passage of their signature health care overhaul. (Ferris and Caygle, 11/19)

The New York Times: Kevin McCarthy Speaks For More Than Eight Hours To Delay A House Vote
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California early Friday concluded a marathon speech in opposition to the Democrats’ social policy bill, after talking for eight hours and 32 minutes, surpassing the length of one by Representative Nancy Pelosi in 2018 that held the record for the longest continuous House speech in modern history. (Gross, 11/19)

Roll Call: House, Senate Will Go To Conference On R&D Proposals
House and Senate negotiators will soon go to conference in an effort to send bipartisan legislation aimed at advancing U.S. competitiveness in science and technology to President Joe Biden’s desk, Democratic leaders announced late Wednesday. But it’s unclear exactly which pieces of legislation each body will bring to the conference. (DeChiaro, 11/18)

Houston Chronicle: Biden’s $1.75T Spending Bill Includes Health Coverage For Over 750,000 Texans
Hundreds of thousands of low-income Texans could gain access to health coverage under President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social policy and climate change bill, with the U.S. House preparing to vote on the measure late Thursday. The package includes a provision that would be a temporary workaround to Medicaid expansion in Texas and 11 other states where Republican leaders have refused to fully expand safety net health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (Blackman and Scherer, 11/18)

From the states —

The Washington Post: Democratic Divide Puts Congressional Action On Marijuana In Doubt
A split on Capitol Hill over marijuana policy has lawmakers confronting the possibility that they could again fail to pass any meaningful changes to the federal prohibition of cannabis this Congress, even as polls show vast majorities of Americans support at least partial legalization of the drug. The clash, on one level, follows familiar contours for Washington policymaking: A narrower measure with significant bipartisan support — one that would make it easier for banks to do business with legitimate cannabis firms in states where marijuana is legal — is in limbo while a smaller group of lawmakers pushes for a much broader bill. (DeBonis, 11/18)

Bloomberg Law: Hospitals, Foreign Health-Care Workers Press Congress For Action
The Covid-19 pandemic has fueled unprecedented demand for skilled health-care professionals—and the demand will only continue after the U.S. emerges from the pandemic. Without training thousands of new American-born doctors and nurses, the clearest way to fill gaps in the health-care workforce is hiring talent from abroad, experts say. Hospital groups have lobbied Congress for the past 18 months to address a shortage of nurses and physicians by offering green cards to tens of thousands of foreign health-care workers, among a number of proposed legislative options. (Kreighbaum, 11/19)

Stat: A Win For Black Maternal Health Advocates, With Passage Of VA Program
Congress’ action this week is a victory for Black maternal health advocates like Charles Johnson, who’s been pushing for more support for Black mothers after his wife died from childbirth complications. Proponents of addressing America’s Black maternal mortality crisis scored a win this week as Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation to set up a $15 million maternal care program within the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is the first bill in the Black Maternal Health Momnibus to make it through Congress and now awaits President Biden’s signature. (St. Fleur, 11/18)

In congressional election news —

Politico: Pennsylvania Republicans Baffled By Celebrity Doctor’s Senate Bid 
Yes, Dr. Oz is serious about running for the Senate. The famous TV physician’s prospective campaign for an open Senate seat in Pennsylvania remains a hush-hush affair — no one so far has admitted to working on it and the consultants thought to be involved are remaining tight-lipped. But Mehmet Oz is searching for a scheduler and policy director, according to a person contacted about the jobs. He has also recently looked for a home in the Philadelphia suburbs, another source said. (Otterbein and Allison, 11/19)