< The House narrowly passed a measure Tuesday approving a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint and locking in a late September vote on a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, ending a standoff between a group of centrist Democrats and their leaders over the party’s legislative agenda. The Kabuki theater production of House Democrats closed off-Broadway on Tuesday after a very limited run. The vaunted showdown between nine or so “centrists” and the party’s progressive wing ended with a whimper as the centrists settled for a token procedural promise. The final agreement, approved in a 220-212 vote, kept Democrats moving forward with President Biden’s legislative ambitions and defused the latest flare-up with the party’s centrist wing. It also marked a shift in party leaders’ stated strategy in sequencing the infrastructure and budget bills, which could now come up for votes weeks apart in the House. That could diminish liberals’ leverage in the coming negotiations unless lawmakers can complete the budget package before the infrastructure deadline. The budget framework’s passage in the House officially unlocks a process that will allow Democrats to pass a sprawling package of healthcare, education and climate provisions in the Senate without GOP support, so long as they retain the support of all 50 senators in the Democratic caucus. The Senate passed the same budget blueprint earlier this month, and lawmakers are already working on drafting detailed legislation. What do Democrats expect to include in the emerging package? The legislation is expected to include:

• paid family and medical leave,
• subsidized child care,
• an extension of an expanded child tax credit,
• universal prekindergarten for three- and four-year-olds,
• two years of tuition-free community college,
• green cards to millions of immigrants,
• extend expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies approved earlier this year in the Covid-19 aid package,
• broaden Medicare benefits to cover dental, vision and hearing,
• would aim to reduce the cost of prescription drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices,
• a $30 billion cryptocurrency provision that some lawmakers have warned could send American jobs overseas,
• a series of ideas, including tax credits for clean-energy investments and a “plan resembling a clean electricity standard,” aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the electricity sector by 80% and economy wide by 50% by 2030,
• also proposing polluter import fees.

How do Democrats plan to pay for the new spending? Democrats say they will raise taxes on corporations and high-income households to fund the plan, but the party hasn’t united around a specific increase. More From The Wall Street Journal (subscription required):