Senate passed Joe Biden’s $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure plan

After a series of setbacks and delays due to negotiations, US Senate passes bipartisan infrastructure bill worth over $ 1 billion, with a growing coalition of Democrats and Republicans half-sanctioning the first step in President Joe Biden’s reconstruction plan.

The vote now goes to the House of Representatives. Around 70 senators appeared ready to approve the package, which included several Republicans and would allow them to raise millions for their states and show voters they can get things done.

Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was “”the first time in decades that the Senate has rallied to such a package”.

Once this bill is approved, negotiations will begin on Biden’s next package, a $ 3.5 billion plan that is a more strictly Democratic undertaking, kicking off a debate that will span several months. Since this bill will be on budget, Democrats can pass it with their 50 votes in the Senate and control in the House of Representatives. This is how Donald Trump carried out an impossible reform of his government. On the other hand, the law which is voted on Tuesday needs the support of 60 senators.

Often elusive political center for now pushes bipartisan plan forward, a rare agreement with the White House.

From the left, Democrats have resisted complaints from those who say the bill is insufficient to deliver on the president’s promises and priorities. From the right, Republicans are turning a deaf ear to their most conservative and marginal voices, and even to the barrage of insults from former President Donald Trump, eager to derail the project.

A significant number of chambers of commerce and agriculture and trade unions support the package, which proposes nearly $ 550 billion in investments in what are typical pillars of federal spending: roads, bridges, broadband, pipelines and other public works that cities and states cannot afford on their own.

Amid a new wave of coronavirus cases in the United States, progress on the infrastructure package should help provide budget support for the next phase of recovery in the world’s largest economy.

“It was a different process,” said Sen. Rob Portman, the senior Republican negotiator for the group of 10 senators who drafted the bill. Portman, the budget manager during the presidency of George W. Bush, said there has been talk of investment for years, but nothing has been done. “We are going to make things right for the American people,” he said.

(With AP information)

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