President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure deal cleared its final serious Senate hurdle Sunday night, putting the legislation on a glide path to passage potentially later today, Politico reported. In a 68-29 vote, the Senate closed down debate on a bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of 10 senators that spends $550 billion in new money on the nation’s physical infrastructure. Sunday’s vote came after senators spent the weekend haggling over amendments and time agreements to consider them. Final passage of the legislation is expected late Monday night, or early Tuesday at the latest, unless a deal is reached among all 100 senators to speed it up. A 50-hour budget debate and an unlimited "vote-a-rama" on nonbinding but politically symbolic topics will follow immediately after. "We will move forward to wrap this up as expeditiously as possible, and then move on to the budget resolution," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after the vote. "The two-track process is moving along. It's been a process that has been a very good process. It's taken a while, but it's going to be worth it." A total of 18 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, joined all 50 Senate Democrats to advance the physical infrastructure bill. Sens. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) supported ending debate, after previously voting against moving forward.
