The US Senate voted Wednesday to advance a bipartisan infrastructure plan, a critical step towards passing their expansive economic agenda.
- Senators voted 67-32 in favor of the bill; 17 Republicans and all 50 Democrats voted in support of the bill. The vote initiates the process to debate and make changes to the proposal, which would provide $550 billion into transportation, broadband and utilities.
- The deal came together earlier in the day after Democratic and Republican negotiators agreed on transit and broadband funding, among other issues.
- The plan was cut from the $579 billion in new spending US senators and the White House agreed to last month, a figure many Democrats considered small.
- Proponents of the bill have praised it as a necessary investment that will boost the US economy as the nation tries to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Democratic Senate Schumer aims to pass both the bipartisan bill and the budget resolution that sets up the reconciliation process before the Senate leaves for its recess next month.
Source: CNBC.
