A bipartisan group of senators said Wednesday that they reached a deal on the details of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — salvaging a blueprint brokered last month by President Biden.
The breakthrough came despite fears of spending spurring inflation and Republican unease about a possible second infrastructure bill that Democrats want to ram through using special budget rules.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the deal’s chief GOP negotiator, said that “as of late last night — and really early this morning — we now have an agreement on the major issues.”
Portman met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to inform him of the final details, though former President Donald Trump blasted out a call for Republicans to oppose the “terrible deal.”
“We are prepared to move forward,” said Portman, who spent Tuesday evening with White House counselor Steve Ricchetti ironing out the kinks.
A fact sheet released by the White House said the bill includes $550 billion in “new” spending and would be “the largest federal investment in public transit ever” and “the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak.”
The fact sheet does not explain in detail how the bill would be financed.
The White House said it is “financed through a combination of redirecting unspent emergency relief funds, targeted corporate user fees, strengthening tax enforcement when it comes to crypto currencies, and other bipartisan measures, in addition to the revenue generated from higher economic growth as a result of the investments.”
While some details remain to be finalized, Portman said the group had reached “an agreement on the major issues.”
As for a timeline, he said he expected a vote “tonight sometime” on a vote to proceed to debate, or cloture. If 60 senators vote to proceed, the bill is all but assured passage in the evenly divided Senate.
Portman added that he “expect[ed] to have the language completed by then.”
Many of the details were tinkered with from the initial version last month. For example, that original deal called for $7.5 billion for electric buses. The latest version would give $2.5 billion to electric buses, $2.5 billion to low-emission buses and $2.5 billion to ferries.
The bill would put $73 billion toward “clean energy transmission… including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy.”
Another $21 billion would go toward environmental remediation, “making the largest investment in addressing the legacy pollution that harms the public health of communities and neighborhoods in American history,” the White House said.
Many details weren’t changed much from the initial plan, including about $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $65 billion for broadband internet, more than $50 billion for water infrastructure, $25 billion for airports, and $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations.
The amount for public transit was reduced by $10 billion to $39 billion.
Portman, who will retire in 2022, said Democrats accepted Republicans’ latest offer on highway and public transit funding.
Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), a lead Democratic negotiator, said she spoke Wednesday with President Biden, who was “very excited” to have a deal.
“We do expect to move forward this evening, we’re very excited to have a deal,” she said.
But Sinema on Wednesday also upended Democratic plans to ram through a second $3.5 trillion bill that raises taxes to pay for a wide range of Democratic priorities that didn’t make the cut into the bipartisan bill. She said that bill would need changes.
“While I will support beginning this process, I do not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion — and in the coming months, I will work in good faith to develop this legislation with my colleagues and the administration,” Sinema said.
Aside from public transportation funds, a major sticking point for both parties was how the bill would be paid for.
Portman insisted that “this bill is paid for.”
“We are still finalizing the details, but we have reached agreement on the major issues,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters. “I am delighted that we’ve been able to come together as a bipartisan group.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Wednesday that lawmakers should be prepared for a vote that evening.
“Senators continue to make good progress on both tracks of legislation,” Schumer said
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a negotiator on the GOP side, urged caution before assuming the deal was completely done.
“That doesn’t mean every ‘t’ is crossed, every ‘i’ dotted, but on the major issues, we are there,” he said.
In this Senate, Democrats need 10 Republicans to move any major legislation forward, though they can bypass the filibuster through budget reconciliation on certain bills with a majority vote.
But with Sinema and fellow centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WVa.) balking at the price tag, a massive reconciliation bill may not be possible. A single Democratic vote in the Senate would derail the bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has repeatedly claimed that she won’t allow a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill unless a larger supplementary budget reconciliation bill is passed by the Senate.
With Post wires
