Senate Infrastructure Passage “All But Assured”
Axios says the negotiators of the bipartisan infrastructure bill are “on the cusp of a victory lap for getting a seemingly impossible infrastructure deal through the Senate,” while the NYT says “passage now seems all but assured.”
The bill sailed through a final test vote on Sunday evening, with 18 Republicans in support. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who voted against cloture, also says he plans to back the final bill. The AP says “as many as 20 Republicans are expected to join Democrats in what would be a big vote on final passage.”
On CNN’s State of the Union, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said, “Probably it’s going to pass…sometime on Tuesday. So it could go quicker, but it’s going. And that’s the good thing. It’s going.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Fox News Sunday, “We are within days, possibly within hours, of seeing this historic legislation that’s going to get us better roads and bridges better ports and airports, a better future for our economy and creating millions of jobs. … You don’t see the number of conservative Republicans supporting this bill that you do unless it’s fiscally responsible.”
According to the WSJ, while economists say the legislation “is unlikely to have a big impact on growth in the next few years,” in the longer term, “investments in highways, ports and broadband could make the economy more efficient and productive.”
Over in the House, Politico says, the bill’s “future is uncertain. … Democratic moderates are already pressuring Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take the legislation up immediately, though Pelosi and many progressives want to wait” until the $3.5 trillion social spending and climate bill also passes the Senate.
The usual suspects both left and right are trying to kill the bill. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said “war” and “tax cuts for the rich” were also “bipartisan,” and “just because something is ‘bipartisan’ doesn’t make it intrinsically good for people or worthy of passage.” Donald Trump this weekend called the bill a “disgrace,” though the NYT says that among Senate Republicans, the reaction “was mostly yawns.”
But supporters of two-party solutions hold some of the cards. According to Punchbowl, “There may be some Republican votes for the infrastructure bill -- especially among the Problem Solvers Caucus” that Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) “co-chairs. … That will give Pelosi and moderates some wiggle room on that bill that doesn’t exist on the [$3.5 trillion] budget resolution, which only Democrats support. … ‘AOC needs Gottheimer more than Gottheimer needs AOC,’ is how a Democratic aide put it.”
The fight is in the House now, and No Labels is ready for it. Ryan Clancy discussed the No Labels strategy on the Colorado Concern podcast.