
President Biden on Tuesday signed Democrats’ massive spending bill into law, calling it the “biggest step forward on climate ever.”
“With this law, the American people won, and the special interests lost,” Biden said during a signing ceremony at the White House. “For a while people doubted whether any of that was going to happen, but we are in a season of substance.”
He said the bill’s passage is proof for “the American people that democracy still works in America, notwithstanding… all the talk of its demise, not just for the privileged few, but for all of us.”
Biden’s approval comes after the House passed the measure in a 220-207 vote on Friday. It passed the Senate one week earlier in a party-line vote using budget reconciliation, which allows a measure to pass with a simple majority rather than needing to meet a 60-vote threshold.
The bill, which received support from every Democrat in the House and Senate but no Republicans, is essentially a pared down version of President Biden’s Build Back Better package that was put to rest last year when Senator Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) pulled his support.