Biden Announces ‘We Have a Deal’ on Bipartisan Infrastructure Package

President Joe Biden announced an agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure package Thursday, giving his stamp of approval to a plan spearheaded by ten senators. The new consensus marks the end to many weeks of negotiations and partisan gridlock over the president’s chief legislative priority.

“We have a deal,” Biden said outside the White House shortly after the deal broke. “We have made serious compromises on both ends.”

“They have my word, I’ll stick with what they’ve proposed. And they’ve given me their word as well. Where I come from that’s good enough for me.”

The discussed deal, a significantly trimmed down version of Biden’s original 6 trillion dollar proposal, is worth about $953 billion with $559 billion allocated for new spending in transportation expenditures like roads, waterways, and bridges, as well as electric utilities, broadband internet, and other projects.

Prior to the agreement, a major outstanding question was how both parties planned to finance the program, one of the most expensive in U.S. history. Republican Senator Susan Collins said, “We’ve agreed on the price tag, the scope and how to pay for it.”