Schumer Could Push Senate Infrastructure Bill into Debate This Week

The Senate could vote again this week on whether to begin debating a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan to rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges, Reuters reported. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) could push for the vote provided that negotiators have finalized their details. 

There are still several disputed items, including “money for highways and bridges, water infrastructure, transit, broadband and using unspent COVID-19 pandemic relief money to pay for the infrastructure measure,” according to a Democratic source who spoke to CBS News.

Among the outstanding items is a requirement that contractors and subcontractors working on federally funded contracts pay their workers no less than the “locally prevailing wages” for work on similar projects.

Last week, the GOP blocked the measure from moving forward in the evenly-divided Senate, depriving Democrats of the 10 votes they needed to begin debate on the infrastructure package. The vote was 49-51, not enough to overcome a filibuster.

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At the time, a group of 22 senators who have been negotiating the plan’s key elements said they have made “significant progress and are close to a final agreement.”

“We will continue working hard to ensure we get this critical legislation right — and are optimistic that we will finalize, and be prepared to advance, this historic bipartisan proposal to strengthen America’s infrastructure and create good-paying jobs in the coming days,” they said in a statement. “We appreciate our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and the administration, working with us to get this done for the American people.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.