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House passes infrastructure bill, sends it to president

WASHINGTON — Progressive and moderate lawmakers reached a truce Friday evening resulting in the House passage of a long-stalled $1 trillion infrastructure bill, clearing the way for a victory that President Joe Biden and his party are increasingly anxious to claim.

Under the agreement, brokered by Biden and top Democrats, progressives ended their roadblock against the package of road, water and other projects. In exchange, moderates who've balked at a separate 10-year, $1.85 trillion measure boosting social and environment programs said they would commit to backing it later this month if official estimates of its cost are in line with expectations.

The emerging pact came after a topsy-turvy day and was described by one Democrat who discussed it only on condition of anonymity.

A vote on the larger measure boosting health care, family services and climate change efforts is now expected later this month, an abrupt retreat from earlier plans to vote on it Friday. That scheduling shift represented a setback for Democrats, many of whom anticipated the day would give Biden a double-barreled triumph on the two pillars of his domestic agenda.

But moderates' apparent willingness to consider backing that measure stood as a significant step toward a House vote that would ultimately ship it to the Senate.

And under Democrats' current political circumstances, simply freeing up the infrastructure measure for final congressional approval was a like a burst of adrenaline for them. The Senate approved that bill, which would create jobs in every state, in August with bipartisan support.

House passage of the infrastructure measure sent it to the desk of a president whose approval ratings have dropped and whose party got a cold shoulder from voters in this week's off-year elections.

The White House issued a statement from Biden on Friday night aimed at reinforcing the accord.

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