Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Pushes On
Despite failing to pass a Senate vote, both the White House and the group of senators drafting the bipartisan infrastructure deal believe there is still hope for another chance.
The vote came after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his intent to call for a cloture vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal in order to begin debating it on the Senate floor. When presented for a vote, the bipartisan infrastructure deal failed to garner the 60 votes needed to officially begin debating it, gathering only 49 votes, according to NPR.
However, according to CNN, it was expected that Senate Republicans would block the vote, in order to give the bipartisan group more time to write the legislation.
Nonetheless, the failed vote still caused some to begin to wonder; however, according to Jacob Pramuk and Thomas Franck for CNBC, “the 22 Democratic and GOP senators drawing up the plan said they hope to release and push ahead with a bill ‘in the coming days.'”
In addition, at a CNN town hall, President Biden also expressed optimism in regards to the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure deal.
““It’s a good thing, and I think we’re going to get it done,” he said, as quoted in the CNBC article.
The road for this bipartisan infrastructure deal has been incredibly difficult since the beginning. After President Biden first announced his $2.1 trillion American Jobs Plan, a part of massive two-part infrastructure deal that aimed to re-evaluate what was infrastructure and expand funding for “human infrastructure,” many GOP members argued against its terms and figures. Most importantly, GOP members like Senator Mitch McConnell argued against the methods delineated by the plan to accrue funding, specifically increasing tax rates on wealthy Americans and corporations.
However, after weeks of negotiations and changes of strategy, a bipartisan deal was finally reached. Now it is just up to the Senate to vote on it again in order for it to move forward.
According to the CNBC, lead Republican negotiator in bipartisan group, Ohio Senator Rob Portman, he thinks “we’ll be ready to go” with the bipartisan infrastructure plan on Monday.
