Bipartisan Vote Passes Infrastructure Bill
Congress got it done. And it took bipartisanship to do it.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act finally passed the House late Friday night, nearly three months after passing the Senate. In the Senate, more than one-third of Republicans voted for the bill. In the House, if not for the 13 Republicans who joined most Democrats in support, the bill would have failed due to Democratic defections.
On Sunday, House Problem Solvers Caucus Co-chair Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told CNN, “This is a big win this week for the country. … And it was bipartisan, Democrats and Republicans coming together.”
It took courage for Democratic Problem Solvers to hold the line to get the bill to a vote, and it took courage for those 13 Republicans to defy their party leaders and Donald Trump to back it. Because of their bravery, there will be better roads, safer bridges, cleaner water, and more accessible broadband across the nation.
This victory for the American people was months in the making. In April, No Labels National Co-chair Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) gathered Democratic and Republican governors, House and Senate members to start hashing out a framework for an infrastructure bill. In the months to come, No Labels would host several other bipartisan, bicameral meetings to try to keep momentum moving behind the bill. The persistence of No Labels and our House and Senate allies paid off.
All that’s needed for enactment of the biggest infrastructure bill since the creation of the Interstate Highway System is for President Biden to sign the bill. The President should do so as soon as possible.