WASHINGTON — After a year of negotiations, impasses and political maneuvering, the Senate passed Democrats’ top domestic priority: an economic package that would pump hundreds of billions of dollars into clean energy programs, raise taxes on corporations and lower health care costs.
The Senate voted 50-50 along party lines and Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to send the measure to the House, which is planning to return briefly from August recess to take it up Friday.
Democrats used the budget reconciliation process to avoid the need for 60 votes to clear a Republican filibuster. But even a simple majority vote required unanimity in the Democratic caucus, which they’d been unable to achieve until this month.
