07/15/2021

Senate to Vote on Infrastructure Deal Next Week

The bill is a bipartisan measure to safeguard the nation

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he will tee up a vote next week on the bipartisan infrastructure deal endorsed by President Biden.

Biden did some personal salesmanship yesterday on Capitol Hill, seeking to rally Senate Democrats around the $1.2 trillion package that includes about $600 billion for roads, bridges and broadband improvements. Infrastructure negotiators are still racing to turn the framework announced last month into legislative text, and still need to resolve key differences over how to pay for the package.

Schumer and the White House are eager to move both the infrastructure bill and a budget resolution setting up a separate $3.5 trillion social spending plan next week.

“Everyone has been having productive conversations and it’s important to keep the two-track process moving,” Schumer said. “All parties involved in the bipartisan infrastructure bill talks must now finalize their agreement so that the Senate can begin considering that legislation next week.”

To pass the Senate, the bipartisan infrastructure deal will need 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, and some Senate Republicans have voiced concerns about the plan’s financing and are waiting for a score from the Congressional Budget Office once the bill text is finalized. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has not weighed in yet on the bipartisan plan but said he does view it as separate from the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion social spending bill. Not all Republicans see it that way, however.

“I want to look at the infrastructure bill on its own, but it’s awfully hard when they continue to link then publicly not to view it through that lens,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD). “I think that complicates passage of the infrastructure bill for a lot of Republicans.”

Should the Senate pass the bill next week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said the House will not take up the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the Senate passes a budget setting up the additional spending for Democratic priorities.

Biden told reporters yesterday on Capitol Hill that he is confident both packages will ultimately pass. “We’re going to get this done,” he said.

This article was provided to OSAE by ASAE's Power of A and Inroads.