Infrastructure deal: Senate votes to start work on $1T bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has voted to start work on a nearly $1 trillion national infrastructure package.

The vote came together quickly Wednesday night after President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement on the key part of the White House agenda.

In a statement, President Biden said, “This deal signals to the world that our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things. As we did with the transcontinental railroad and the interstate highway, we will once again transform America and propel us into the future.”

In the statement, President Biden added that they’d do all of that without raising taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year, and they won’t increase gas tax and no fees on electric vehicles.

In a rare bipartisan showing of a 67-32 vote, the 700-page bill stated that $550 billion would be spent on public works projects, the Associated Press reported.

But it’s unclear if enough senators will eventually support the final passage.

The process ahead could take days.

The outcome will set the stage for the next debate in the months ahead over Biden’s much more ambitious $3.5 trillion spending package, which includes child care, tax breaks, and health care.

The $1 trillion package would be partly paid for by repurposing unspent COVID-19 relief aid.