While the Senate awaits final legislative text for the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a key Democrat involved in negotiations over the proposal, said Sunday that the Senate wants to approve the plan to improve the nation’s roads, bridges and rails by Thursday.
“They’re drafting it. The text will be done, hopefully we’ll introduce it today. We’ll vote on it tonight. We’ll start the amendment process hopefully on Monday,” Manchin said in an interview on “Face the Nation.” “But we want to be done by Thursday. We want to move on.”
Transcript: Senator Joe Manchin on “Face the Nation”
After the bipartisan group of senators and the White House reached a deal on the infrastructure bill on Wednesday, the Senate moved swiftly on a procedural vote to advance the plan, clearing a key hurdle after weeks of discussions over the details of the measure.
Senate negotiators are still working to turn the proposal into legislative text, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged the chamber will pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a larger $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which is the blueprint for a second, more sweeping infrastructure measure, before senators depart for the August recess.
The more narrow plan includes $550 billion in new spending on physical infrastructure and has been touted by President Biden as the largest investment in the nation’s roads, bridges, ports, water and rail systems in decades. Senators remained in Washington, D.C., for a rare weekend session in anticipation of the bill text being completed. Once that happens, members can begin offering amendments to the bipartisan plan.
Manchin said the bill is 99.9% written and predicted text will be finalized in the coming hours.
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