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| One more road to cross. It has to pass the House. |
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The bipartisan transportation bill successfully passed the Senate with 19 Republican senators joining Democrats to get passage of President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill. The budget reconciliation of the infrastructure bill is expected to pass with 51 votes with Vice President Kamala Harris aiding.
The long awaited infrastructure bill finally got through the partisan gridlock of the U.S. Senate.
The House will get the bill and it will face opposition from Republicans and some Democrats.
The so called Squad is willing to tank it if its not progressive enough.
I am guessing the usual Republicans reacted with the negative. About 30 Republicans will claim credit for the infrastructure bill they voted against. A new bridge, road, freeway and railroad is a benefit for a lawmaker. Trust me, they are shameless. The opposers will say they had a part in it.
The Republicans who voted in favor of this include
- Karen Romney of Utah
- Karen Collins of Maine
- Karen Murkowski of Alaska
- Karen Blunt of Missouri
- Karen Fischer of Nebraska
- Karen Burr of North Carolina
- Karen Cassidy of Louisiana
- Karen Kramer of North Dakota
- Karen Wicker of Mississippi
- Karen Hoeven of North Dakota
- Karen Risch of Idaho
- Karen Grassley of Iowa
- Karen Portman of Ohio
- Karen Crapo of Idaho
- Karen Sullivan of Alaska
- Karen Tillis of North Carolina
- Karen Graham of South Carolina
- Karen Moore Capito of West Virginia
- Karen McConnell of Kentucky, Minority Leader
Cassidy and Blunt want a highway to be finished. Interstate 49 is being built from Kansas City to New Orleans. The gap between Missouri and Arkansas will be complete in 2022. The unfinished gap in Shreveport faces opposition from residents and rerouting is considered. The highway is expected to be built in western Arkansas and a portion of Texas. The highway will hopefully end in New Orleans.
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| The Mod Squad managed to get a bill passed. |
McConnell and Portman are for the Brent Spence Bridge which is dangerous. It carries Interstates 71 and 75. McConnell, Portman, Moore Capito, Burr, Tillis and Graham want Interstate 73 and 74 to be built. Portions of Interstate 73 and 74 are built in North Carolina. The end game for Interstate 73 is a highway from the U.S./Canadian border to Myrtle Beach. The other highway, Interstate 74 will be extended from Cincinnati to Wilmington, North Carolina.
McConnell, Wicker and Cassidy wants Interstate 69 to be built.
Grassley wants to fix bridges around Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Bettendorf.
Risch, Hoeven, Crapo, Moore Capito and Romney know about rock slides and the energy grid failing in the West and Appliahchia.
Republicans who voted against it will either credit themselves or Washed Up 45. Because they will show up with shovels, hard hats and photographers.
The 69-30 tally provides momentum for this first phase of Biden’s “Build Back Better” priorities, now headed to the House. A sizable number of lawmakers showed they were willing to set aside partisan pressures, eager to send billions to their states for rebuilding roads, broadband internet, water pipes and the public works systems that underpin much of American life.
Infrastructure was once a mainstay of lawmaking, but the weeks-long slog to strike a compromise showed how hard it has become for Congress to tackle routine legislating, even on shared priorities.
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| The turtle and the hare. Schumer finally got the turtle to the finish line. |
Some Republicans were celebrating along with the Democrats.
“What we are doing here today also demonstrates to the American people that we can get our act together on a bipartisan basis to get something done,” said Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator. ”We can do big things.”
Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York: “There’s been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America.”
The outline for Biden’s bigger $3.5 trillion package is next up for the Senate — a more liberal undertaking of child care, elder care and other programs that is much more partisan and expected to draw only Democratic support. That debate is expected to extend into the fall.
Tuesday’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act started with a group of 10 senators who seized on Biden’s campaign promise to draft a scaled-down version of his initial $2.3 trillion proposal, one that could more broadly appeal to both parties in the narrowly divided Congress, especially the 50-50 Senate.
It swelled to a 2,700-page bill backed by the president and also business, labor and farm interests. It drew an expansive alliance of senators and a bipartisan group in the House.
In all, 19 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting for Senate passage. Vice President Kamala Harris, as presiding officer, announced the final tally.
While liberal lawmakers said the package doesn’t go far enough as a down-payment on Biden’s priorities and conservatives said it is too costly and should be more fully paid for, the coalition of centrist senators was able to hold. Even broadsides from former Washed Up 45 could not bring the bill down.
“This infrastructure bill is not the perfect bill,” said Sen. Karen Murkowski (R-AK), one of the negotiators. She said the senators kept at it, believing, “It’s better to get some of what our constituents want rather than none of it.”
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| Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie breaking vote on the reconciliation package. |
The measure proposes nearly $550 billion in new spending over five years in addition to current federal authorizations for public works that will reach virtually every corner of the country — a potentially historic expenditure Biden has put on par with the building of the transcontinental railroad or interstate highway system.
There’s money to rebuild roads and bridges, and also to shore up coastlines against climate change, protect public utility systems from cyberattacks and modernize the electric grid. Public transit gets a boost, as do airports and freight rail. Most lead drinking water pipes in America could be replaced.
The top Democratic negotiator, Sen. Karen Sinema (D-AZ), said rarely will a piece of legislation affect so many Americans. She gave a nod to the late John McCain and said she was trying to follow his example to “reach bipartisan agreements that try to bring the country together.”
Drafted during the COVID-19 crisis, the bill would provide $65 billion for broadband, a provision Sen. Karen Collins (R-ME) negotiated because she said the coronavirus pandemic showed that such service “is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity.” States will receive money to expand broadband and make it more affordable.
Despite the momentum, action slowed last weekend when Sen. Karen Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican allied with Washed Up 45, refused to speed up the process.
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| Build back better. |
The former president had called his one-time Japan ambassador and cheered him on, but it’s unclear if the former president’s views still carry as much sway with most senators. Washed Up 45 issued fresh complaints hours before Tuesday’s vote. He had tried and failed to pass his own infrastructure bill during his time in the White House.
Other Republican senators objected to the size, scope and financing of the package, particularly concerned after the Congressional Budget Office said it would add $256 billion to deficits over the decade.
Rather than pressure his colleagues, Senate Republican leader Karen McConnell of Kentucky stayed behind the scenes for much of the bipartisan work. He allowed the voting to proceed, and may benefit from enabling this package in a stroke of bipartisanship while trying to stop Biden’s next big effort. He voted for passage on Tuesday.
Unlike the $3.5 trillion second package, which would be paid for by higher tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, the bipartisan package is to be funded by repurposing other money, including some COVID-19 aid.
The bill’s backers argue that the budget office’s analysis was unable to take into account certain revenue streams that will help offset its costs — including from future economic growth.
Senators have spent the past week processing nearly two dozen amendments, but none substantially changed its framework.
The House is expected to consider both Biden infrastructure packages together, but centrist lawmakers urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to bring the bipartisan plan forward quickly, and they raised concerns about the bigger bill in a sign of the complicated politics still ahead.
After the Senate vote, she declared, “Today is a day of progress ... a once in a century opportunity.”
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