The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passes the Senate

After months of negotiation, the Senate voiced voted 69-30 to pass the 2,702-page, $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, which includes $550 billion in new funding for transportation, broadband, and utilities. 19 Republicans joined all 50 Democrats to pass the bill. The bill will now go to the House of Representatives.

The federal infrastructure package should include funding for environmental infrastructure to reduce lead, water, air, and hazardous waste contamination, with a particular focus on low-income communities and communities of color that tend to be the most affected by these hazards. 

This marks a significant victory for President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. “America, this is how we truly build back better,” Biden said Tuesday at the White House. “This bill is going to put people to work modernizing our roads and our highways and our bridges.”

Nineteen Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined with all 50 senators who caucus with Democrats to support the bill. The bipartisan spirit quickly gave way, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately pivoted to a partisan budget resolution that will lead to a $3.5 trillion package of social spending and tax increases.

If the infrastructure package ultimately clears both chambers, every state would feel the effects. It includes about $110 billion in new spending for roads and bridges, $73 billion for power grid upgrades, $66 billion for rail and Amtrak, and $65 billion for broadband expansion. It also provides $55 billion for clean water and $39 billion for transit.

Biden had dispatched top aides to negotiate directly with a group of Republican and Democratic senators putting the bill together and engaged personally with meetings and phone calls. The vote also is a significant achievement for Schumer and the bipartisan group of 22 senators led by Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who stepped in after initial negotiations between the White House and Republicans collapsed in June. 

U.S. Sens. Jon Cornyn, Ted Cruz vote against infrastructure bill that could give Texas more than $30 billion

President Biden thanked the Senate bipartisan infrastructure working group following 69-30 bill passage: "They said they're willing to work in a bipartisan manner and I want to thank them for keeping their word. It's just what they did."