WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday announced an agreement on an expansive proposal to build and repair the nation’s roads, bridges and broadband internet networks, but significant hurdles remain.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., is planning to hold the first procedural vote on the measure Wednesday evening, he said. A previous attempt failed last week when 10 key Republicans balked at Schumer’s attempt to advance the bill before the final details had been hammered out.
Schumer said Democrats “believe we have the votes for that.”
But the preliminary vote, which will require the support of 60 senators, is likely to be close as many Republicans say they want time to read the agreement. They received a summary of the bill in a binder at a lunchtime meeting.
Many Democrats said they expected to support the measure, but some publicly committed only to starting the process and withheld their support for final passage until they saw the completed text. Democrats’ response to the bill was “overall very positive,” said Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a lead Democratic negotiator, acknowledged some Democrats might not support it.
“Anytime you do a bipartisan deal that doesn’t go through regular order, people are understandably upset,” he said.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a moderate Democrat, told the Arizona Republic she would support starting the process on the bipartisan bill but still had concerns about a separate, second infrastructure bill Democrats planned to pursue without GOP support.
The bipartisan plan is the first part of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” infrastructure initiative. Republicans who back the proposal say that although they don’t support his entire infrastructure plan, they support investing in the hard infrastructure proposals.
“The need is dire,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican in the negotiations, citing 46,000 structurally deficient bridges in America.
The proposal includes $550 billion in new spending, down from $579 billion in prior drafts, according to Democrats and Republicans. Earlier drafts envisioned a total of $1.2 trillion in funds, after including the reallocation of previously approved spending.
Biden, touring a Mack truck plant in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, told reporters he felt “confident” about the emerging agreement.
According to the White House, the proposal would amount to the largest-ever federal investment in public transit, the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak and the largest bridge investment since the interstate highway system was constructed.
The plan includes $110 billion in new funding for roads, bridges and surface transportation projects over the next five years. Another $73 billion will go to upgrading power infrastructure; $65 billion for expanding high-speed internet throughout the country; and $55 billion for the expansion of clean drinking water.
Further spending would pay to make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists, to create an electric vehicle charging network, to modernize existing transit and rail systems, and to secure infrastructure for climate change and cyberattacks.
Biden and the group of bipartisan senators announced a month ago they had reached an agreement on an infrastructure framework.
But it quickly became clear that that framework was incomplete. The group, with the addition of White House staffers, continued to meet on Capitol Hill to iron out details. For more than a week, members of the negotiating group said they were close to a deal.
Even if the Senate vote is approved Wednesday evening, the final package is far from conclusion. Further votes and final passage in the Senate would be held in the days to come, potentially through the weekend.
Biden’s Build Back Better plan is a $4.1 trillion infrastructure proposal to build roads, water pipes and broadband internet networks as well as to reshape the nation’s social safety net.
Democrats are trying to enact the plan in two parts. The bipartisan plan would invest in the so-called hard infrastructure projects.
Democrats hope to approve about $3.5 trillion for the rest of Biden’s plan under a procedure that doesn’t allow for a GOP filibuster.
That part of the plan includes an ambitious list of new and expanded social programs, such as child and elder care and enhanced Medicare benefits. With Republicans opposing these programs, Democrats must rely solely on their own caucus for the votes.
Because Democrats will have no margin of error, Sinema’s skepticism about this second bill could prove problematic.
“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 to strengthen Arizona’s economy and help Arizona’s everyday families get ahead,” Sinema said.
The House has not yet taken up either proposal. Amid concern from progressives that Senate moderates might balk at the partisan proposal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said the House won’t take up the bipartisan bill until the companion legislation gets through the Senate.
