U.S. infrastructure bill clears key obstacles in the Senate as soon as possible

The Associated Press (Shanghai, Editor Qi Lin) reported that on Saturday afternoon Eastern Time, President Biden pushed for an economic stimulus plan after he took office. It was passed in a procedural ballot, which removed a key obstacle in its legislative process.

Since the introduction of this bill, the two parties in the United States have engaged in fierce debate and repeated bargaining, and the Democrats finally won the support of some Republicans. In Saturday’s ballot, 67 votes in favor and 27 votes against, which exceeded the 60 votes required to pass the vote. 18 Republican senators voted to continue the legislation.

Although the Democrats hope to take advantage of the victory and pursue the final vote immediately, some Republican senators do not want to vote on the bill too quickly. According to the Congressional schedule, the next vote on the bill will be held on Sunday night local time, and the Senate may not finally pass the bill until next Tuesday.

Since members of the two parties have never reached an agreement on the last batch of amendments to the bill, the Senate can only pass a series of procedural votes to advance in stages and deliberate the amendments piecemeal.

If passed in the Senate, the bill will also be submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation, but this bill, which has been negotiated by the two parties, will still face uncertainty when it is voted on by the House of Representatives. Although the ruling Democrats hold a weak majority in the House of Representatives, some Democrats want to add some of their own ideas before voting.

For example, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said that she will not take over the vote on the infrastructure bill until the broader budget bill is also passed in the Senate.

Approximately US$550 billion of new expenditures in the US Infrastructure Act are for roads, bridges, transportation, ports, broadband, and water infrastructure, of which US$73 billion is used for power grids and power infrastructure, and US$66 billion is used for passenger and freight transportation. Railway, US$65 billion for broadband investment, US$55 billion for water supply systems and related facilities, US$39 billion for public transportation, US$25 billion for airport construction, and US$15 billion for electric vehicles.