In big move, Senate sends infrastructure bill to House

The Senate sent the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to the House after a final vote on the bill Tuesday morning.

Senators have spent the past week going over nearly two dozen amendments to the 2,700-page package. So far, none of those amendments have substantially changed its framework.

The vote for the bill was 69-30, a rare bipartisan show for such a large spending package. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it’s “the first time the Senate has come together around such a package in decades.”

Sen. Rob Portman, the lead Republican negotiator of the group of 10 senators who drafted the package, said the investments being made have been talked about for years, yet never seem to get done.

“This has been a different sort of process,” Sen. Portman said. “We’ll be getting it right for the American people.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the top Democratic negotiator, said she was trying to follow the example of fellow Arizonan John McCain to “reach bipartisan agreements that try to bring the country together.”

After passing the $1T infrastructure bill, the Senate was expected to dive into the larger, $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. It includes child care, elder care and other programs that are expected to draw only Democratic support.

Unlike the bipartisan package, which would be funded by repurposing other money, as well as cutting spending and revenue streams, the larger package would be paid for by higher tax rates for corporations and the wealthy.

The House is expected to consider both Biden infrastructure packages when it returns from recess in September.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the two bills will be considered together. However, on Monday, a bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers urged her to bring the smaller plan forward first.

“This once-in-a-century investment deserves its own consideration,” wrote Reps. Josh Gottheimer, Jared Golden and others in a letter. “We cannot afford unnecessary delays.”