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The Senate yesterday passed a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal, a significant win for President Biden and the first step on his top legislative priority, The Hill reported. Senators voted 69-30 on the bill, which was spearheaded by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Nineteen GOP senators voted with all Democrats to pass the legislation. The bill is now heading to the House, where it faces an uncertain future and skepticism from progressives. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has vowed she won’t take it up until the Senate passes the second part of its infrastructure two step, a sweeping $3.5 trillion spending package that includes Democrats’ top priorities. But the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan measure on Tuesday gives a victory for Biden and the centrist-minded group that led the legislation, and placed big bets and months of time on the ability to get a bipartisan deal on infrastructure.

U.S. job openings jumped to a fresh record high in June and hiring also increased, an indication that the supply constraints that have held back the labor market remain elevated even as the pace of the economic recovery gathers momentum, Reuters reported. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, shot up by 590,000 to 10.1 million on the last day of June, the Labor Department said yesterday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. The ratio of openings to hires, despite easing in June, remained at historically elevated levels," JPMorgan analyst Peter McCrory said. Acute labor shortages have been reported, particularly in leisure and hospitality. Generous unemployment benefits, childcare issues and lingering worries about the virus have also been cited as factors holding back people returning to the workforce. The largest increases in vacancies in June were in professional and business services, retail trade and accommodation and food services.

The Senate is expected today to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, capping off weeks of intense negotiations and debate over the largest federal investment in the nation’s aging public works system in more than a decade, the New York Times reported. The legislation, which still must pass the House, would touch nearly every facet of the American economy and fortify the nation’s response to the warming of the planet. It would greatly increase funding to modernize the nation’s power grid and finance projects to better manage climate risks, and it would devote hundreds of billions of dollars to repair and replace aging public works projects. The legislation was largely negotiated by a group of 10 Senate Republicans and Democrats and White House officials. Nearly 70 senators from both parties voted to advance the measure over the weekend toward the final vote Tuesday, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. As soon as the bill clears the Senate, Democrats are expected to take up a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint that will unlock their ability to muscle through an expansive social policy package over unanimous Republican objections. Under the fast-track budget reconciliation process, that blueprint, if passed with a simple majority, will dictate the parameters of a transformative package expected to provide funding for health care, climate change, education and child care, and to increase taxes on wealthy people and corporations.

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.

Hundreds of union members from multiple states rallied Wednesday for Alabama miners who have been on strike against Warrior Met Coal Inc. since early April seeking contract improvements, the Associated Press reported. With many in the crowd holding signs decrying unfair labor practices and wearing camouflage T-shirts emblazoned with the words “We are one,” allies presented checks to aid the roughly 1,100 striking workers. The United Mine Workers of America said busloads of members from states including Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia planned to attend. Country and gospel singers entertained between speakers, and many in the crowd ate popsicles and sat under umbrellas or canopies. The rally was held at a park in rural Brookwood near the offices of Warrior Met, which produces coal used in steel production in Asia, Europe and South America. The union has said workers sacrificed to bring the company out of the Walter Energy bankruptcy five years ago, and members have advocated for better health benefits. Warrior Met has said it offered workers a competitive package that would protect jobs and the health of the company.

U.S. private sector payroll growth fell well short of expectations in July, according to data released Wednesday, raising doubts about the strength of the upcoming federal jobs report, The Hill reported. The ADP National Employment report for July showed a gain of just 330,000 jobs for nonfarm businesses in the private sector, down from 680,000 in June and roughly half of the 650,000 jobs economists expected firms to add last month. “July payroll data reports a marked slowdown from the second quarter pace in jobs growth,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said in the report. Data from payroll processor Homebase also showed a 0.4 percent decline in the number of hours worked by small businesses in July. Homebase also found that states that ended federal unemployment benefits early saw employment decline 0.9 percent in July, while states that kept the benefits saw employment increase by 2.3 percent.