Senate passes $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill

A sweeping, $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package aimed at addressing the maintenance of roads, bridges and broadband easily coasted to passage Tuesday morning after days of debate. 

The measure — negotiated by a group of 22 bipartisan lawmakers led by Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) — includes $550 billion in new spending, with $110 billion set to be allocated toward roads, bridges and other projects; $65 billion toward broadband, $66 billion to be spent on passenger and freight rail, $55 billion for water infrastructure, $39.2 billion for public transit, $47.2 billion for resiliency purposes, $7.5 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure and $21 billion to address pollution. 

Leadership from both parties lauded the group of negotiators for their work on the bill, despite some members of the GOP ultimately voting against the measure 

“This isn’t exactly the bill I would have written on my own, in my office, and 99 of my colleagues would say the same. This is a compromise product crafted by colleagues with big, principled differences in a Senate with the narrowest possible split,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the floor Saturday.