Senate nears OK of Dems' $3.5T budget, despite GOP attacks

Democrats are nudging toward Senate approval their $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health and environment programs

WASHINGTON -- Democrats pushed their expansive $3.5 trillion framework for bolstering family services, health, and environment programs toward Senate passage early Wednesday, as Republicans unleashed an avalanche of amendments aimed at making their rivals pay a price in next year’s elections. Congressional approval of the budget resolution, which seems assured, would mark a crucial first step by Democrats toward enacting the heart of President Joe Biden's domestic agenda. It would open the door to a follow-up measure aiming the government's fiscal might at assisting families, creating jobs and fighting climate change, with higher taxes on the wealthy and big companies footing much of the bill. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., once a progressive voice in Congress' wilderness and now a national figure with legislative clout, said the measure would help children, families, the elderly and working people — and more. “It will also, I hope, restore the faith of the American people in the belief that we can have a government that works for all of us, and not just the few," he said.