Big federal spending bills under deadline pressure

WASHINGTON — Two spending bills that would directly affect the auto industry inched closer to the finish line last week after the Democratic-controlled House reached a deal allowing the multitrillion-dollar plans to advance and setting the stage for a busy September.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-212, along party lines, to approve a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint and agreed to vote by Sept. 27 on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate.

Both are major pillars of President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda and include provisions that could encourage electric vehicle adoption and advance updates in auto safety.

The plans face an uncertain future amid disagreements between moderate and progressive Democrats given the party's narrow majority in each chamber, public policy experts say.

Before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's commitment last week to pass the infrastructure bill by the late September deadline, moderates such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey had called for the infrastructure plan to get a vote before the big budget reconciliation bill. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, who is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said her group is focused on first passing the reconciliation bill.

No Republicans are likely to support the budget plan — a sprawling package that includes some of Biden's most ambitious agenda items. It can pass in the Senate with a simple majority vote, or 50 senators plus the vice president.

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy in floor remarks last week criticized House Democrats for taking up the budget plan amid chaos in Afghanistan, calling it an "embarrassing day" for the U.S.

"There's a lot at stake for the auto industry," said Kristin Dziczek, senior vice president of research at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "The bipartisan bill and the reconciliation together support needed charging and grid infrastructure and consumer and producer incentives for EVs."

As the industry aims to boost U.S. sales of EVs — investing hundreds of billions of dollars in electrification by 2025 — "these bills accelerate it in a meaningful way," she told Automotive News.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade association that represents major automakers in the U.S., said it supports bipartisan efforts to pass the infrastructure bill, which includes $7.5 billion for EV charging.

As House and Senate committees move forward on the budget reconciliation process and mark up various pieces of the package by a nonbinding deadline of Sept. 15, the alliance said it "will continue to work with members of both chambers to craft the additional policies necessary," including consumer incentives to support broader EV adoption.

Byron Brown, a senior counsel at Crowell & Moring's Washington, D.C., office, said while he expects the House to pass the infrastructure bill without modification, the reconciliation bill faces "considerable uncertainty," as committees in both chambers are confronted by a tough-to-meet deadline.

"There's a lot that needs to be taken care of in a really short period of time," Brown said, citing the crisis in Afghanistan and other legislative priorities. "I don't think these issues get wrapped up over the next month."

The deadline pressure and tight vote margins could force Democrats to set aside any lingering disharmony, according to Mark Rom, an associate professor of government and public policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy.

"There's almost no margin of error, so they will have to find things that are acceptable to the more moderate [members] and the progressives," Rom said. "I think they know it's in their best interest that they have to get both of these bills enacted, so I would bet that they will come through on that."