After postponing a November 5 House vote on the “Build Back Better Act” (see Memo, 11/8), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) are pushing to hold a vote this week on the $1.75 trillion package on the House floor. Centrist Democrats in the House threatened to withhold support for the Build Back Better Act without an official assessment of the fiscal impact of the legislation from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which may force congressional leaders to delay the vote.
While House leaders hope to vote on the bill as soon as November 16, officials at the CBO noted a comprehensive analysis of the bill is unlikely to be finished before the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, the CBO will release cost estimates of the reconciliation bill as they are completed, and it remains unclear whether a piecemeal analysis will be enough to secure centrist votes this week.
As negotiations in Congress continue to drag, passage of the historic legislation is at risk. It is critical that advocates urge their members of Congress – especially the more moderate representatives and senators – to vote in favor of the Build Back Better Act and the bill’s robust investments in affordable housing, including NLIHC’s HoUSed campaign’s top priorities:
- $25 billion to expand rental assistance to approximately 300,000 households
- $65 billion to preserve the nation’s deteriorating public housing infrastructure
- $15 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve over 150,000 affordable, accessible homes for households with the lowest incomes
To enact the legislation, President Biden and congressional leaders will need the support of every single Democratic senator and nearly all Democrats in the House. Top targets for advocacy include:
- Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV)
- Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ)
- Representative Carolyn Bordeaux (D-GA)
- Representative Ed Case (D-HI)
- Representative Jared Golden (D-ME)
- Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
- Representative Stephanie Murphy (D-FL)
- Representative Scott Peters (D-CA)
- Representative Kathleen Rice (D-NY)
- Representative Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
- Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)
- Other centrist Democrats in the House and Senate
See a full list of top advocacy targets here.
Take Action
After this week, Congress will be on recess for Thanksgiving and members will be in their districts. NLIHC has guidance for advocates interested in holding an in-district meeting with their members of Congress. Advocates should also email and call their representatives to urge them to vote yes on the Build Back Better Act and its historic investments in affordable housing, including rental assistance, public housing, and the Housing Trust Fund.
Thank you for your advocacy!