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The Senate voted on Friday to take the bipartisan $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure deal to the next level.
In a 66-28 vote on a continuation motion, the Senate opened the deal to the amendment process and potential changes. Sixteen Republicans voted alongside the 50 Senate Democrats.
While the text of the bill has yet to be revealed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hopes to pass it before the August recess, starting August 9. All changes and amendment votes for the bill are expected to take place over the weekend.
“Given the bipartisan nature of the bill, the Senate should be able to deal with this legislation fairly quickly,” Schumer said Friday before the vote. “We may need the weekend, we can vote on several amendments, but with the cooperation of our fellow Republicans, I think we can complete the bipartisan infrastructure bill in a matter of days.”
Shortly before the vote, former President Donald Trump called the infrastructure package a “carrot” for “massive socialist expansion” that would trick Republicans into “giving in” to Democrats.
The 45th Commander-in-Chief advised Republicans not to back the $ 1.2 trillion compromise because House Democrats tied the bill to the guaranteed passage of a 3.5 trillion budget deal of dollars.
“The RINOs in the Senate offer a great victory by ceding infrastructure to radical Democrats. Once they pass this Senate bill, it will sit in the House until they are crushed by the biggest expansion of government in a generation, ”Trump began, saying the second package would lead To “[t]ax increases for everyone, government run healthcare, more government run schools, amnesty for illegal immigrants, MASKS and many other terrible socialist programs.
“Nancy Pelosi said NO INFRASTRUCTURE until they get everything else,” he added, referring to the Speaker’s ultimatum that she would sink the smallest draft of law if the Senate does not pass its biggest bill through reconciliation.
Budget reconciliation allows the majority party to bypass legislative obstruction, with the Senate rule requiring 60 members to end debate on most topics and vote on it.
The Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, although Vice President Kamala Harris, as Speaker of the Senate, has a deciding vote. Yet 51 votes are not enough under current rules to break the filibuster.
Biden split his infrastructure package, a centerpiece of his post-COVID agenda, into two parts for Congress to pass.
The first, the “American Jobs Plan,” focused on physical infrastructure, while the second, the “American Families Plan,” aims to fund the Democrats’ domestic policy platform.
Republicans have challenged the second package, which they say extends the definition of infrastructure. The first package, meanwhile, took precedence over a bipartite deal negotiated in the Senate.
GOP negotiators on the compromise deal said on Wednesday they had reached agreement on the details of a $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill – recovering a plan negotiated by Biden last month.
The Senate then voted 67-32 to advance debate on critical legislation later that evening.
Pelosi threw cold water on the idea of the House adopting the compromise package if the Senate did not pass the “Family Plan” legislation, which would only go through reconciliation.
“Infrastructure is just a ‘carrot’ for massive socialist expansion,” Trump explained of the smaller bill before lamenting why some on the right, whom he called Republicans “in name only,” would continue to support this legislative effort.
“Why are the RINOs so desperate to push bad radical left policies? And at the same time give the Democrats a big victory. They will be forced to abandon some of the incredible tax cuts achieved under the Trump administration, one of its many hallmarks, ”he warned.
“It is bad legislation and politically irresponsible. Democrats will use it to show they can get anything they want from Republicans.
Trump was not the only politician to challenge the bipartisan Senate deal.
House transport and infrastructure committee Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), An ally of Pelosi tasked with scoring Biden’s original “US plan for jobs” in case the bipartisan deal fails, called the Senate legislation “crap” in a private meeting Tuesday, according to two Democrats who attended the session and spoke on condition of anonymity.
He also referred to Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) as one of the “Republicans” who drafted the agreement.
Asked by Politico immediately after the heated meeting to discuss his feelings on the deal, DeFazio, who continues to support the partisan $ 2.3 trillion hard infrastructure deal, did not hold back.
“I could not give a damn about the White House. We are an independent branch of government, ”he told the media outlet. “They cut this deal. I did not sign it.
With post wires
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