U.S. Senate meets on Saturday to consider $1 trillion infrastructure
bill
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[August 07, 2021]
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will
meet for the second weekend in a row on Saturday in hopes of passing a
$1 trillion infrastructure bill that has struggled to overcome a series
of last-minute delays and objections, despite strong bipartisan support.
The package https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-us-senates-bipartisan-1-trillion-infrastructure-bill-2021-08-03,
which represents the biggest investment in decades in America's physical
infrastructure including roads, bridges, airports and waterways, will
face a key test at noon EDT (1600 GMT), when lawmakers are due to vote
on whether to limit debate on the legislation.
If the vote succeeds, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will try to
move quickly to pass the bill, in what would be a major victory for
President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators who spent months
crafting the package.
After hours of closed-door negotiations, senators were unable to reach
agreement on Thursday on a final batch of amendments before many
lawmakers left town to attend the funeral on Friday of former Senator
Mike Enzi in Wyoming. Twenty-two amendments have already been debated.
Negotiations were continuing, according to a person familiar with the
talks. Unless all 100 senators consent to waive rules governing the
legislative process, the Senate will have to pursue a series of
procedural votes that could delay passage until as late as Monday or
Tuesday.
Progress has been held up by a flurry of disagreements over demands for
new Defense Department improvements and a bill provision on
cryptocurrency.
"It's just the way this place works. People want their amendments to be
voted on, and when they can't get them voted on because one side or the
other objects, then they hold up everybody else," Senator Rob Portman,
the lead Republican negotiator, told reporters on Friday.
Senator Bill Hagerty, who was former President Donald Trump's ambassador
to Japan before replacing former Senator Lamar Alexander, also balked
after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday that
the legislation would increase federal budget deficits by $256 billion
over 10 years.
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Vehicles are parked outside the U.S. Capitol building the morning
the Senate returned to session in Washington, DC, U.S., July 31,
2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo
The CBO analysis did not include $57 billion in
added revenue that senators estimate Washington would collect over
the long term from the economic growth benefits of infrastructure
projects. It also did not count $53 billion in unused federal
supplemental unemployment funds to be returned from states.
So far, the current bill has attracted backing from enough
Republicans to comfortably surpass the Senate's 60-vote threshold,
along with unanimous support from the chamber's 50 Democrats.
But the legislation is still opposed by most of the Senate's 50
Republicans and by Trump, who has regularly blasted moderate
Republicans and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over their
support.
Trump made infrastructure spending a key plank of his 2016
presidential campaign but never made it a priority once he got into
office and was unable to get legislation through Congress.
Some top Republicans believe Saturday's vote on whether to limit
debate could be a turning point.
"There'll be a point at which everything becomes more fluid, and I
think after the (procedural) vote on Saturday, that'll be one of
those formative moments," Senator John Thune, the chamber's No. 2
Republican, told reporters on Friday.
"Then we'll see from there kind of what people's appetite is to stay
on the bill."
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Sonya
Hepinstall)
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