U.S Senate passes Bipartisan infrastructure bill

President Joe Biden’s long heralded infrastructure bill, estimated at $1 trillion dollars, was passed today with a vote of 69-30 in the Senate. If passed in the House, the bill would harken one of the largest federal investments in railways, roads, and bridges in recent decades. An estimated $550 billion dollars would be plugged into the electrical grid, water projects, and various other public works in a massive campaign to reauthorize government spending. A more robust Democratic-backed bill of $3.5 trillion dollars centered on clean energy with funding primarily coming from the country’s top earners is set to be debated in the fall.

The $1 trillion dollar bill can be seen as a bipartisan effort that has been years in the making. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer stated, “Today the Senate takes a decade’s overdue step to revitalize America’s infrastructure and give our worker’s, our business, our economy the tools to succeed in the 21^st century.”

Yay or Nay?

The vote has been in limbo for weeks, with the some Democrats on board claiming the bill does not do enough in federal spending. . On the right, Republicans have been evading complaints from their more conservative base, with many pointing to the Congressional Budget office estimate that the bill would add $256 billion in deficits over the coming decade. There is no guarantee that the bill will clear the House, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has stated that the House will not take up the bill until the previously mentioned $3.5 trillion plan is passed.

A temporary win for Bipartisanship

Regardless of the hurdles, the vote today is seen by many as a sign that bipartisanship can succeed in a Biden administration. Nineteen Republicans voted in favor, despite pressure from former President Donald Trump and allies. Polls have showed that the American public generally support the bill that would interject federal spending into state economies. While there is no guarantee bipartisan support can be carried over into future bills, lead Republican negotiator Rob Portman (R., OH.) seemed optimistic. He said,  “we’ll be getting it right for the American people.”

The top Democratic negotiator, Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona echoed this sentiment. She noted that during the negotiation process she was attempting to follow the example of the late Senator John McCain in trying to “reach bipartisan agreements that try to bring the country together.”