The Senate is expected to wrap up debate on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill as soon as Saturday after a key vote at noon that would put the measure on a path to final passage.
Lawmakers have been debating amendments to the bill for several days and worked late into Thursday night before adjourning. The Senate will reconvene on Saturday and was not in session Friday so lawmakers could attend the funeral of former Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming.
Final passage was thwarted this week by Republicans who sought more opportunities to amend the bill. They accused Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, of rushing to pass the 2,700-page measure without adequate time for GOP input.
Senators will vote Saturday on an amendment sponsored by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, and Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, that would address the taxation of cryptocurrency. The provision has the endorsement of the White House, but it’s not clear how much GOP support it will win.
Schumer said late Thursday that the Senate is on track to pass the bill after considering 22 amendments, with more possible votes this weekend.
“We very much want to finish this important bill,” Schumer said, praising lawmakers for working “long, hard, and collaboratively” on the measure.
The bill calls for $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, and waterways and expanding broadband as well as mass transit and rail.
It includes $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations.
The measure is expected to pass with bipartisan support. At least 10 Republicans are needed to end debate in Saturday’s vote, which would set up final passage by a simple majority.
Many Republicans are expected to vote against the bill, reinforced by a government analysis released Thursday indicating that the infrastructure bill will increase the deficit by $256 billion over 10 years.
The Congressional Budget Office found that provisions in the bill added by bipartisan negotiators to cover the cost would not fully pay for it.
While the news did not surprise GOP lawmakers who were skeptical of the offsets, it reinforced opposition from Republicans who opposed much of the spending and policy riders in the bill.
On Wednesday, a group of seven Senate Republicans announced its opposition to the measure.
“We support infrastructure, but it has to be paid for,” Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said. “This proposal isn’t it.”
The bipartisan bill is poised to become a major achievement for the Biden administration and Democrats, who will be able to tout successful cross-party cooperation for a job-creating measure that is popular with voters.
The bill also serves a much larger purpose for Democrats by helping to serve as a springboard to pass a $3.5 trillion social spending package that will need the support of every Senate Democrat, including some reluctant centrists.
Democrats will hold the first vote on the framework of the package as early as next week, unlocking consideration of the full legislation later in the year.
They’ll use a budgetary tactic that allows certain legislation to pass with a simple majority and not the usual 60-vote hurdle.
The massive spending bill will provide funding for universal preschool, free community college, expanding medicare, higher Obamacare subsidies, and perhaps much more. Democrats are hoping to add more climate change provisions and perhaps some language legalizing so-called Dreamers, who came to the United States as children.
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Republicans are expected to oppose the bill unanimously.
In the House, where Democrats control the majority, Speaker Nancy Pelosi repeated her pledge Friday that she won’t bring up the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill for a vote until the Senate passes the framework for the $3.5 trillion legislation, which she called “personal infrastructure.”
She added, “We are going to do this when we can do it all.”
