House looks to take up climate, taxes, health care bill next Friday

The House is planning to reconvene next Friday and take up the Democrats’ sprawling climate, tax and health care bill, pending Senate passage of the multibillion-dollar package in the coming days.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) office sent out a floor update on Friday announcing that votes are expected on Friday, Aug. 12. The House is currently out of session for August recess.

“Members are advised that pending Senate action on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the House is expected to meet on Friday, August 12th, to consider the legislation,” the floor update reads.

“Members are further advised the House is expected to meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business, and multiple vote series are expected,” the memo adds.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill, titled the Inflation Reduction Act, in the coming days. The first vote on the package — which is being considered under budget reconciliation, a process that allows Democrats to pass the bill without Republican support — is set for Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

The initial vote will then tee up hours of debate followed by a vote-a-rama, when senators offer amendments in hopes of changing the legislation before it is brought up for a final vote.

Vote-a-ramas are not subject to time limits, leaving the schedule for final Senate passage up in the air.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) announced last week that they had reached a deal on what they called the Inflation Reduction Act, capping off months of intraparty negotiations on a climate, tax and health care bill. The measure includes $369 billion for an energy and climate program and allocates more than $300 billion to bring down the deficit.

The legislation received a boost on Thursday night when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) said she would move forward with the measure after reaching a deal with Schumer.

Once the bill hits the House, it is expected to pass and head to President Biden’s desk for final signature. 

“The Democratic Congress will soon pass our historic Inflation Reduction Act, taking bold action to bring down the kitchen table costs – from health care premiums to prescription drug costs to energy prices – while closing tax loopholes and paying down the deficit,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement on Friday that applauded the July jobs report.

In November, the House passed a roughly $2 trillion social policy and climate package, titled the Build Back Better Act, but the legislation ultimately failed in the Senate after Manchin said he could not support it. The Inflation Reduction Act represents a slimmed-down version of that mammoth bill.

The House broke last Friday for its August recess, which was meant to last through the month. Leadership, however, warned that the chamber would have to reconvene if the Senate passed a reconciliation package.