Infrastructure bill: Republicans plan to block vote on bipartisan bill, pushing for more time to draft it

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer defended his decision to hold Wednesday’s vote despite opposition from Republicans, saying the bipartisan group had spent more than a month negotiating.

The bipartisan effort is part of a two-pronged strategy to advance the White House’s broad economic agenda, as Democrats set the stage to push forward a $ 3.5 trillion package expanding the social safety net. Democrats have suggested that some elements of the bipartisan plan could be incorporated into the Democrats’ package if they cannot push the narrower measure forward. Some moderate Democrats, however, are already reluctant to raise the sky-high price tag.

In June, the White House and a bipartisan Senate group agreed to $ 579 billion in new spending to build roads, bridges, railroads and airports, as well as water, electricity infrastructure projects. and broadband.

But lawmakers have since struggled over how to pay for the massive investment. They made their job even more difficult by agreeing to remove a provision that would have boosted the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect unpaid taxes, which would have raised up to $ 100 billion in government revenue. They also haven’t addressed other issues, including how much transit funding to provide, according to a Senate GOP source.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney, one of the Republican negotiators, said Tuesday that senators had “probably solved three-quarters” of their problems in the past two days, and predicted they could work out the rest. ” by the end of the week. “

Romney has said he wants the vote pushed back to early next week.

“I hope Senator Schumer gets the vote on Monday when we have had a chance to resolve any remaining outstanding issues,” Romney said.