Fissures grow in House Democrats’ support for Biden’s $3.5 trillion social welfare bill

Cracks emerged Thursday in House Democrats’ support for President Biden’s $3.5 trillion spending package when Rep. Stephanie Murphy said she couldn’t back a plan that still lacked the most basic details.

“I don’t know how much we’re spending. How much we’re raising. How we’re spending some of the money and how we’re raising any of the money,” Ms. Murphy, Florida Democrat, said as the Ways and Means Committee began finalizing pieces of the massive package.

Ms. Murphy said the bill’s price tag was too high, echoing criticism of the bill from other moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

She also objected to pushing forward proposals without cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and without deciding on the new taxes or higher taxes to pay for it.

Her comments were applauded by the committee’s Republicans.

“I think it is hurried. I think it is irresponsible,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington, Texas Republican.

“This is the most radical reimagining of the role of the federal government in the lives of its citizens,” he said.

Ms. Murphy’s stance does not doom the measure. It does, however, underscores the soft support among some in the caucus for a bill that will need near-unanimous Democratic support to pass.

She made the remarks as the committee began several days of hearings to approve moving forward with pieces of the bill supported by the left, including new federal benefits for 12 weeks of paid family leave and adding dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare coverage.

Ms. Murphy said she would vote against advancing the measure from the committee. Democrats, who run the committee and have a 25-17 majority on the committee, still have enough votes to push the package forward.

The House is steaming ahead with drafting the spending package by the Sept. 27 deadline set by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.

Ms. Pelosi promised a group of moderate Democrats, including Ms. Murphy, that the House would vote on a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill by that date.

Moderates have said they would not support the larger liberal bill before they have a chance to pass the infrastructure bill. The left wing of the Democratic caucus has said it would not support the infrastructure bill unless moderates go along with passing the massive social welfare bill.

Ms. Murphy said the committee is rushing to meet “an artificial deadline to craft and mark-up a big bill. I think this deadline was too rushed and it was driven by politics instead of policy.”

The committee is moving ahead with endorsing proposals before the Congressional Budget Office has said how much nearly all of them would cost, she said.

She also objected to moving forward before the committee has settled on tax increases to pay for the massive bill.

“I can’t assess them if I don’t know how we’re paying for them. I can’t pass judgment if I don’t know what tradeoffs we’re making,” she said of the spending proposals. “I don’t think we can afford to do everything and as a legislator, I have to prioritize.”