Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined 16 other Republicans in advancing the $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill she helped negotiate with the Biden Administration and Democrats.
Sens. Roy Blunt, Shelley Capito, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, John Cornyn, Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Deb Fischer, Chuck Grassley, John Hoeven, Mitch McConnell, Rob Portman, James Risch, Mitt Romney, Mike Rounds, Tom Tillis, and Todd Young joined all Senate Democrats in a vote to end debate and move the bill toward amendments and an up-down vote this week.
The Saturday vote was 67-27.
Sen. Dan Sullivan was a no vote on this procedural motion on Saturday, although that is not an action that would signal how he will vote on the bill ultimately.
“We can get this done the easy way or the hard way,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said to the Senate just prior to the vote on cloture. “In either case, the Senate will stay in session until we finish our work. It’s up to my Republican colleagues how long it takes.”
The bill is made up of $550 billion in new spending for infrastructure. But another section of spending has not yet been revealed, and it may include what Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calls a product of the “full radicalism of the far left.”
In the House, radical Democrats find the bill too limiting, as it doesn’t address their climate change and social justice agenda. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will not take up the bill unless it includes those far-left items.
Much of the money going to states will go to governors to spend as their states need it, rather than being doled out by the federal government.
