U.S. Senate Introduces Text Of Bipartisan Infrastructure Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KDKA) -- In a rare, late-night weekend session, a group of Senators finalized the legislative text of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, with that plan weighing in with more than 2,700 pages.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made the announcement on the Senate Floor late on Sunday night.
Now that the text of the bill has been finalized, the days-long amendment process will begin.
Senator Schumer says he believes the Senate can quickly move things along and pass the bill in a matter of days, given how bipartisan the bill is.
More than half of the bill, worth $550 billion, includes new federal funding to be spent over five years.
It invests billions of dollars in:
- Rebuilding the electric grid
- Passenger and freight rail
- Expanding broadband internet access
- Water infrastructure
- Bridges
- Public transit, including buses and charging stations for electric vehicles
Senator Schumer says it's been decades since Congress passed a significant standalone investment.
He also said it's not easy to come together for bills of this size, but is proud of the hard work that has been done.
"We haven't done a large bipartisan bill of this nature in a long time," Schumer said.
"Let's rebuild America. We talk about it a lot. And when you think about this, this is the largest long-term jobs program that we've got -- that we've ever done, for an awful long time," said Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV).
"These are great jobs in every city in every part of every county in every state in America -- great jobs are gonna be available for people who want good, high paying, high skilled jobs, with benefits," Senator Manchin said.
On Sunday, Manchin told Face the Nation on CBS that he's hopeful the amendment process will be completed by Thursday.
