Have We “Rounded the Turn” on Infrastructure?
The infrastructure train appears to be chugging along.
More than two months after the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the Senate on a 69-30 vote, and nearly one month after Speaker Pelosi reneged on a deal to hold a vote on the bill by September 27, Democrats appear close to reaching a compromise that would allow infrastructure to finally get to President Biden’s desk.
Biden and Pelosi have linked the bipartisan bill to a one-party social spending bill, but the size and scope of that larger bill has been up in the air due to the refusal of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) to rubber-stamp trillions in new spending.
But Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said Thursday that a deal is “very, very close,” and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters that a framework may be reached within 48 hours. Pelosi herself said, “We’ve rounded the turn, and we’re almost to the stretch.”
In a Thursday statement, Reps. Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA), Ed Case (D-HI), Jim Costa (D-CA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Jared Golden (D- ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), and Filemon Vela (D-TX) said, “It is critical that we vote on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill without delay. This bipartisan legislation provides a once-in-a-century investment for our roads, bridges, tunnels, public transit, clean water, broadband, climate resilience, and more — not to mention the millions of good paying labor jobs it will help create.”