Pelosi confident of Build Back Better plan?s passage as vote nears

House Democrats on Thursday moved to advance an expansive domestic policy package that would overhaul large swaths of the American economy, with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, confident they would ultimately deliver the second pillar of Joe Biden's legislative agenda.

After months of fits and starts, gridlock and intra-party warring, Pelosi said Democrats were finally on track to pass their package of social and climate initiatives, just two weeks after the chamber gave final approval to a separate effort investing in the nation's aging infrastructure.

In a joyful letter to party lawmakers, she said all the pieces had fallen into place to enact their "spectacular agenda", called Build Back Better.

"At the close of the debate, all that remains is to take up the vote - so that we can pass this legislation and achieve President Biden's vision to Build Back Better," Pelosi wrote.

Democrats proceeded to a vote following the release of a cost estimate from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, as requested by a band of centrist Democrats with concerns about the legislation's impact on the federal deficit.

The analysis found that the bill would spend $1.7tn over ten years, increasing the deficit by $367bn over the same span of time. The score did not include estimates of Democrats' plans to raise revenue by increasing enforcement of federal tax laws.

The budget office separately predicted that boosting funding for the Internal Revenue Service by $80bn would raise $207bn in revenue, shrinking the deficit to $160bn over 10 years. The estimate was far less than the $400bn the White House said would be raised by tougher IRS enforcement.