President Biden took a victory lap Tuesday after the Senate passed a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, handing the president his biggest legislative win since taking office.
“This is a moment that is beyond the headlines, beyond partisan soundbites, beyond the culture of instant outrage, disinformation, and conflict as entertainment,” Mr. Biden said in remarks from the White House.
“This is about us doing the real hard work of governing. It is about democracy delivering for the people,” he said.
The bill cleared the upper chamber in a 69-30 vote, with 19 Republicans joining all the Democrats to pass the bill. Mr. Biden thanked the GOP lawmakers for keeping to pledge to support his agenda.
Mr. Biden singled out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and a political foe, for his leadership in passing the package.
“For the Republicans who supported this bill, you showed a lot of courage and I want to personally thank you for that,” he said. “You, no doubt, will disagree with me.”
The package marks the most significant investment in America’s infrastructure in years. It proposes more than $110 billion to replace and repair bridges and highways, $66 million to bolster passenger and freight rail, $55 billion to replace lead pipes across the nation, and $65 billion to strengthen the country’s power grid.
It also allocates billions in additional spending to shore up waterways and levees, expanding broadband Internet, and improving airports across the nation.
“This bill is going to put people to work modernizing our roads, our highways, and bridges so commuters and truckers don’t lose time to traffic, saving billions of dollars nationally,” Mr. Biden said, adding the bill will create good union jobs for workers.
Now the bill heads to the House where it faces opposition from both conservatives and progressives.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, said she doesn’t want to move on the bill until the Senate passes Mr. Biden’s $3.5 human infrastructure package, which includes a Democratic wish list of items that Republicans say has nothing to do with infrastructure.
Mr. Biden called on Congress to work out a solution and pass the infrastructure package.
“I know compromise is hard for both sides, but it’s important,” he said. “It is important and necessary for democracy to be able to function.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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