Senate Votes On Amendments To Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

In a Tuesday session of the U.S. Senate, senators from both sides of the aisle voted on amendments to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The bill, officially called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is 2,702 pages long, and supporters believe the measure could be approved by the end of the week by a wide margin.

“We are proud this evening to announce this legislation, and we look forward very much to working with our colleagues in a collaborative and open way over the coming days to work through this historic investment in infrastructure,” said Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Arizona), who led the negotiations along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio).

Now that the bill has been released, there is time for members to make amendments to the text. Senators adopted two bipartisan amendments and rejected one partisan one on Monday.

The bill includes $550 billion in new spending and billions in reauthorized spending that amount to $1 trillion. The passing of a bipartisan bill has been a chief goal of the Biden Administration. The Senate was called into session at 11 a.m. on Sunday, where for 10 hours a group of bipartisan lawmakers worked to release the legislation.

Centrist Democrats have criticized the price of the bill. Some progressives have criticized the lack of diversity in teams that worked on the bill and argue that it doesn’t go far enough. The Democrats hope to address goals of addressing climate change and strengthening the social safety net in their $3.5 trillion reconciliation budget bill which will be considered next week. No Republicans are expected to support the reconciliation measure.

Article by Begonia El Koury