Author: PolitCens

The release of detailed local data from the U.S. census this week demonstrated that the country is diversifying and urbanizing more quickly than many had believed, and those results have real consequences for what Congress will look like throughout the coming decade.In general, the news was good for the Democratic Party. It suggests that some of the anticipated losses in the 2022 elections may be mitigated slightly by population growth in large metropolitan areas, which tend to vote for Democrats, and a decline in rural populations, which tend to favor the Republican Party.In his analysis for The Cook Political Report, David Wasserman wrote that “although Republicans hold more sway in redistricting, Democrats have to be pretty happy with today’s results.”FILE – In this image from video, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas., recognizes Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, left, to speak on the floor of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, April 23, 2020.Drawing new congressional mapsThe decennial count of the American people is used for many purposes, but one of the most visible is the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. While every state’s allotment of senators is fixed at two, the size of their respective House delegations varies with population.Because the 435 House districts are required to be numerically similar in population, every new census necessitates the redrawing of the boundaries to assure roughly equal representation across all districts. After the 2010 census, districts had, on average, about 711,000 people. After redistricting based on the 2020 census, that average will increase to about 761,000 people.Drawing those maps is a politically fraught process. Activists have raged for years about the practice of gerrymandering — partisan redistricting in which the party in power draws maps that concentrate voters of the other party into a small number of districts in order to minimize its representation in Congress. Gerrymandering remains standard practice in more than half the country.Republicans favored to take HouseElectoral maps are drawn at the state level. The process broadly favors Republicans at the moment because the party completely controls redistricting in 20 states with a total of 187 congressional districts. Democrats, by contrast, completely control just eight states, with 75 districts. (Ten states use independent commissions to draw district lines; in six others, Democrats and Republicans each control one house of the state legislature, which means neither side has an obvious upper hand in drawing up new districts.)Earlier this year, when the census reported the number of House seats that each state would have in the coming decade, Republicans were elated to see that those gaining seats — Texas (2), Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Montana and Oregon — were almost all GOP-friendly. Those losing seats included Democratic strongholds such as California, New York and Illinois, along with swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. (West Virginia, a reliably Republican state, also lost a seat.)FILE – A supporter of President-elect Joe Biden holds up his mobile phone to display the electoral college map outside the Philadelphia Convention Center after the 2020 Presidential Election is called, Nov. 7, 2020.Experts analyzing those numbers immediately forecast a significant gain for Republicans. Using voting data from recent years, they determined that simply by gerrymandering a handful of states, the GOP could all but guarantee a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2022.Congressional Democrats have been struggling to pass a law that would outlaw partisan gerrymandering as well as implement various measures to make voting easier, but it is unclear whether that legislation will pass at all, much less in time to affect the 2022 elections.GOP advantage bluntedWhile the numbers released by the census this week don’t really change the likelihood of a Republican House of Representatives after the 2022 elections, they do make it clear that the task will not be as easy for the GOP as many had thought. Also, carving the party a path to long-term majority status will be even more difficult.Lawmakers drawing the new maps understand that the districts they draw will have to endure for a decade, and that demographic change doesn’t stop when the new lines are drawn. Because of the explosive growth of metro areas in states such as Texas and Georgia, suburban congressional districts that Republicans can win in the near term might not remain winnable for long.”One of the things that map drawers in places like Texas or Georgia have to be wary of is spreading themselves too thin in an effort to grab a maximal number of seats in 2022,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “Maybe you win some extra seats in 2022, but you can’t hold them in the future, and the maps unravel.”In his analysis of the new data, The Cook Political Report’s Wasserman said that in Texas, for example, the new data might push GOP lawmakers to aim for a more conservative map that gives Republicans a likely 25-13 advantage in the state’s House delegation rather than a 27-11 map that would be more difficult to preserve over the long run.Inevitable lawsuitsWasserman also pointed out that the data may also make it more difficult for Republicans to defend especially aggressive redistricting in court.While both parties engage in gerrymandering to the extent they are able, the way different ethnic groups in the country vote — with minorities tending to lean toward Democrats — makes the process particularly delicate for Republicans.When they draw maps to concentrate Democratic voters and limit their representation, the practical effect can come perilously close to racial discrimination. In recent years, courts have forced states to redraw boundaries that were determined to be drawn on the basis of race.”Ultimately, Democrats hope today’s data, which showed marked declines in the non-Hispanic white share of the population in the vast majority of states, will strengthen their hand in inevitable lawsuits against GOP-drawn maps in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and elsewhere,” Wasserman wrote. “The battle for the House may hinge on how receptive judges are to arguments that additional minority opportunity seats should be drawn.”
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The United States is growing more racially diverse as the white population declined over the past decade for the first time in the country’s history, a new detailed look at the 2020 Census shows.  The Census Bureau said Thursday that its once-a-decade head count showed 331.4 million people living in the U.S. last year, up just 7.4% since 2010. It was the slowest growth in any decade since the census was started in 1790, except during the Great Depression in the 1930s.  But the racial and ethnic makeup of the country was changing; people were moving more frequently to metropolitan areas, often to the Southern and Western states; and Americans were often leaving smaller communities, further diminishing their populations.  People identifying as white remained the largest population group in the U.S. — 204.3 million — but the share was down 8.6% from 2010.   A county map of the United States and Puerto Rico shows percentage change in population from 2010 to 2020.The next largest group, people who identified as Hispanic or Latino, totaled 62.1 million in 2020, a segment of Americans that grew 23% during the decade. People identifying with two or more racial heritages totaled 33.8 million, a 276% increase over 2010. African Americans totaled 46.9 million, but as a group trailed people who identified as “some other race” or in a combination group, at 49.9 million. Asian Americans totaled 24 million, American Indian and Alaska Natives were 9.7 million, and the “Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander” alone or in combination group, 1.6 million.  Some demographers say the white population could still be the largest single group by 2045 but will likely be outnumbered by a mix of other racial groups, including Latino, Black, Asian American and others.   Half or more of the population growth among U.S. minorities in the past decade came from Hispanics, who have doubled their share of the country’s population over the past three decades.   Rural communities in the U.S. were depopulating from 2010 to 2020. More than half of U.S. counties (52%) had smaller populations by the end of the decade.  FILE – Uptown Manhattan is seen from the Empire State Building in New York City, May 18, 2021.The list of the 10 biggest cities in the country remained unchanged over the past decade, with New York City at the top with 8.8 million residents. All 10 of the biggest cities had a million or more residents for the first time, with the fastest big-city growth (11.2%) in Phoenix, Arizona, in the Southwest.  Census officials said the head count showed 312 of the 384 U.S. metropolitan areas gained population between 2010 and 2020, with 72 losing residents. The fastest growing population center was The Villages in Florida, a retirement community popular with Northerners looking to move to Florida for its warm winters. It grew 39% from about 93,000 people to about 130,000.   Redistricting  Aside from a snapshot of who Americans are, the census data will play an important role in U.S. politics. State lawmakers across much of the country – or politically independent commissions in some states – will use the information to redraw the geographic lines for congressional and state legislative districts that in most cases will likely be used in elections through 2030.   Both Republicans and Democrats have often tried to draw the lines to their advantage where they control state legislatures, crowding as many of their opponents’ likely voters as they can into a handful of electoral districts in hopes of winning most of the others.  A small number of states, however, have adopted the use of independent commissions to redraw their legislative districts, hoping to make the once-a-decade process fairer to both political parties.   FILE – A lawmaker studies a district map during a joint select committee meeting on redistricting in Raleigh, N.C., July 26, 2017.In any case, the redrawing of districts each decade spawns numerous lawsuits from both parties, each alleging that the other has unfairly skewed the process in its favor, leaving it to judges to make final determinations of the exact geographic lines.  The redistricting set to take place throughout much of the country in the coming months is expected to be particularly contentious this time.  In November 2022, political control of Congress is at stake, with all 435 House seats up for election and Republicans needing to pick up only five seats to win control from the Democrats. Analysts say Republican-controlled state legislatures could secure that many through redistricting alone. A third of the seats in the Senate, now divided evenly with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats, are also up for grabs, but the census has no bearing on the voting, since each state is represented by two senators, regardless of population.   In the House, demographic shifts in the U.S. will affect the number of House seats in 13 states, with Republican-controlled Texas gaining two seats, five states each gaining another congressman and seven states losing one each.   The bigger population growth in Southern states in the past decade, where congressional representation is growing, would seem to favor Republicans, while lesser growth in Northern states could mostly hurt Democratic election chances in upcoming years.  
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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul waited more than a year to disclose that his wife purchased stock in a company that makes a COVID-19 treatment, an investment made after Congress was briefed on the threat of the virus but before the public was largely aware of its danger.  
The Republican filed a mandatory disclosure Wednesday revealing on Feb. 26, 2020 that Kelley Paul purchased somewhere between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of stock in Gilead, which makes the antiviral drug remdesivir. Under a 2012 law called the Stock Act, which was enacted to stop lawmakers from trading on insider information, any such sale should have been reported within 45 days.  
Word of the looming danger posed by the coronavirus began to spread through Congress in late January 2020, after members received the first of several briefings on the economic and public health threat that it posed.
The disclosure, made 16 months late, adds Paul to a growing list of lawmakers from both parties who have drawn scrutiny for their stock trading during the outbreak, which was declared a pandemic in March 2020.
In a statement, a Paul spokeswoman Kelsey Cooper said Kelley Paul used her own earnings to make the investment, which she lost money on. She said the failure by the senator, who is an eye surgeon, to disclose the trade was an oversight.
“Last year Dr. Paul completed the reporting form for an investment made by his wife using her own earnings, an investment which she has lost money on,” Cooper said. “In the process of preparing to file his annual financial disclosure for last year, he learned that the form was not transmitted and promptly alerted the filing office and requested their guidance. In accordance with that guidance he filed both reports yesterday.”
Gilead stock traded for about $75 a share on the day Kelley Paul made her purchase. It rose to about $84 a share in April 2020, before dropping. Shares now trade at about $70 apiece.  
The Kentucky senator is not the first member of Congress to disclose trades that critics have suggested were timed to benefit from the pandemic. He’s also not the first who has failed to disclose trades in the required period of time.  
Yet the $1,001 to $15,000 invested by his wife is also miniscule compared to some other lawmakers, who have bought or sold hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars worth of stock during the pandemic. (Congressional financial disclosures give dollar ranges for the value of assets, not specific dollar figures.)
The Associated Press previously reported that Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey repeatedly failed to disclose trades worth as much as $1 million in medical and tech companies that had a stake in the virus response.
Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, of Georgia, both lost their runoff bids for the Senate in January after their own stock trades became a major campaign issue. Both were investigated by the Justice Department, and ultimately cleared.
Perdue had dumped between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock in a company where he was formerly a board member. After markets crashed, he bought it back and earned a windfall after its price skyrocketed.
Loeffler and her husband, the CEO and chairman of the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, dumped millions of dollars in stock following a briefing on the virus.
Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina drew perhaps the most scrutiny for his trades. He stepped aside as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after the FBI obtained a search warrant to seize a cellphone.
Burr and his wife sold between $600,000 and $1.7 million in more than 30 transactions in late January and mid-February, just before the market began to dive and government health officials began to sound alarms about the virus. Burr was captured in a recording privately warning  a group of influential constituents in early 2020 to prepare for economic devastation.
The Justice Department investigated Burr’s actions, but did not file charges and closed the case.  
Paul, however, is unique in some respects. The first senator to catch COVID-19, he has repeatedly railed against mask mandates and other public health tools to stop the spread of the virus.  
YouTube suspended Paul for seven days on Tuesday and removed a video he posted that claimed cloth masks don’t prevent infection, saying it violated policies on COVID-19 misinformation.
It’s the second time this month that one of Paul’s videos has been taken down by YouTube for breaking its rules about misleading content. Paul called YouTube’s decision a “badge of honor” in a tweet.
Paul’s filing of the mandatory disclosure was first reported by The Washington Post.
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The U.S. Senate narrowly passed a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early Wednesday providing the framework for spending on family services, health and environmental programs. The package includes many priorities of President Joe Biden and was supported only by senators from his Democratic Party in the 50 to 49 vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the budget resolution would “provide historic investments in American jobs, American families, and the fight against climate change.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y. walks off the Senate floor and pumps his fists as the Senate approves a $1 trillion bipartisan cornerstone of the Biden agenda to the House, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Aug. 10, 2021.“It puts us on track to bring a generational transformation to how our economy works for average Americans,” Schumer tweeted early Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday ahead of the vote that the minority Republicans lacked the votes to stop the Democratic majority and called the legislation “absolutely jaw-dropping.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives as the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package is about to be voted on by the Senate in Washington, Aug. 10, 2021.“People want to pretend this is just business as usual. Just liberals doing liberal things using Senate procedure. Make no mistake. This reckless taxing and spending spree is like nothing we’ve seen,” McConnell said. The legislation would provide universal pre-kindergarten instruction, free community college classes, expanded health care for older Americans and child care funding. It would also fund the fight against the effects of climate change, make immigration law changes and attempt to lower prescription drug prices.  Democrats plan to pay for the programs by increasing taxes on corporations and the wealthy, allowing the government to negotiate pharmaceutical prices, taxing imported carbon fuels and strengthening tax collections by the Internal Revenue Service. With no Republican support, Democrats are proceeding under a special process known as a budget reconciliation. That allows the bill to advance with only a simple majority and not be subject to a potential filibuster, an action minority Republicans could have used to block or delay a vote. The House of Representatives, which also has a Democratic majority, is expected to consider the blueprint legislation when its members return from a recess in two weeks. The specifics of the spending programs would be filled out in subsequent legislation developed in coming months. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
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“Today, we proved that democracy can still work,” U.S. President Joe Biden said after senators from both parties came together to approve a $1 trillion infrastructure plan.The 69-30 Senate vote sends the legislation to the House of Representatives for consideration next month.House passage is less certain, with some progressive Democrats saying the total spending is too little. But the president hailed Tuesday’s action as moving a step closer to “a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”If approved, the package will initiate one of the biggest public endeavors in decades in the United States to fix deteriorating roads and bridges, expand broadband internet service, and replace lead pipes used to convey drinking water.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives as the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package is about to be voted on by the Senate in Washington, Aug. 10, 2021.Biden thanked by name the Republican leader in the Senate, Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, for supporting the bill.McConnell and 18 other Republicans joined all 50 members of the Democratic caucus to approve the infrastructure legislation.Republicans who supported it ignored pleas from former president Donald Trump to vote against it.”I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics — now I don’t have to be quiet anymore,” Trump said in a statement just prior to the Senate vote.While in office, Trump supported an even bigger infrastructure package that never came to fruition.  ”After years and years of ‘infrastructure week,’ we’re on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I truly believe will transform America,” Biden said, contrasting his legislative effort to that of his predecessor.”Bipartisan collaboration is the only way to create durable policy in a divided country,” Jason Grumet, founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in a statement. “The hard work and courage exhibited by Senators from both parties and the White House deserves recognition, but there is more work to be done. We encourage the House to act quickly to advance this legislation and make a positive difference in the lives of every American.”Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., meets with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 6, 2021.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying her chamber will continue to work with the Senate “to ensure that our priorities For the People are included in the final infrastructure and reconciliation packages, in a way that is resilient and will Build Back Better.”The For the People Act contains sweeping voting rights legislation previously passed by the House.The infrastructure spending package — nearly half of it composed of new government funding — would also build new sewers, expand passenger rail and transit systems, and modernize airports. A group of 10 centrist Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed more than a month ago on the outlines of the deal, but it took the weeks since then to craft the specifics of the bill, which exceeds 2,700 pages.Biden said the legislation would “create millions of good union jobs all across the country,” most of them in the construction trades. Senator Mike Lee was one of the Republicans who voted against the bill, calling it a drastic expansion of federal power and contending that it exacerbates “our already dangerous inflation.”The legislation’s taxes and regulation “will hamper and harm our infrastructure,” Lee added in a tweeted statement.pic.twitter.com/6DM1mXPFey— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) August 10, 2021Biden has previously stated that the spending is essential for economic growth and to compete with America’s chief economic rival, China. ”This is the type of infrastructure investment manufacturers have long championed, and the bipartisan approach shows that our legislators can indeed still come together to accomplish transformational change,” National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement. “We now urge members of the House to follow the Senate’s example, pass this bipartisan bill and send it to the president’s desk for his signature without delay.”Next on tap for the Senate is consideration of Biden’s much larger $3.5 trillion social safety net legislation that would provide universal prekindergarten instruction, free community college classes, expanded health care for older Americans and child care funding. It would also fund the fight against the effects of climate change, make immigration law changes and attempt to lower prescription drug prices.Republicans are uniformly panning the proposal, and so far, none support it.Democrats in the Senate are hoping to band together to pass the outlines of the spending on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. But it could take months of negotiations in both the Senate and House, in conjunction with Biden and his aides, to spell out the specifics of the legislation. 
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The U.S. Senate, in a rare bipartisan vote of approval in politically fractious Washington, adopted Tuesday a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to fix the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges and expand broadband internet service.The 69-to-30 vote for the measure, one of the biggest U.S. public works efforts in years, sends the legislation to the House of Representatives for consideration in September. House passage is less certain, with some progressive Democrats saying the total spending is too little.Watch: President Biden to make remarks on infrastructure bill at 2:15 PM EDTThe White House supports the package, one of the cornerstones of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. It’s an attempt by him to show voters that Republican and Democratic lawmakers can agree on major legislation at a time when they are divided on numerous other issues, including taxation, immigration policies, social welfare spending and more.On the final vote, 19 of the 50 Republicans in the Senate joined all 50 members of the Democratic caucus to approve the legislation. Republicans who supported it ignored pleas from former president Donald Trump to vote against it, even though Trump while in office supported an even bigger infrastructure package that never came to fruition.Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, walk out of a budget resolution meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.The infrastructure spending, with nearly half of it in new government funding, would repair aging roads and bridges and broadband expansion, pay for replacement of dangerous lead-piped drinking water systems, add new sewer infrastructure, expand passenger rail and transit systems, and make airport improvements.A group of 10 centrist Republican and Democratic lawmakers agreed more than a month ago on the outlines of the deal, but it took the weeks since then to craft the specifics of a more than 2,700-page piece of legislation. Biden says the measure would add nearly 200,000 jobs a year, most of them in the construction trades, to the U.S. economy over the next decade.When he first announced the plan in March, Biden said, “The United States of America is the wealthiest country in the world, yet we rank 13th when it comes to the overall quality of our infrastructure.”“After decades of disinvestment, our roads, bridges, and water systems are crumbling,” he said, “Our electric grid is vulnerable to catastrophic outages. Too many lack access to affordable, high-speed Internet and to quality housing.”Biden since then has often pushed for its adoption, saying it was essential for economic growth and in competition with its chief economic rival, China.Next on tap for the Senate is consideration of Biden’s much larger $3.5 trillion social safety net legislation that would provide universal pre-kindergarten instruction, free community college classes, expanded health care for older Americans, childcare funding, money to combat the effects of climate change, make immigration law changes and attempt to lower prescription drug prices.Republicans are uniformly panning the proposal, and so far, none support it. Democrats in the Senate are hoping to band together to pass the outlines of the spending on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.But it could take months of negotiations in both the Senate and House, in conjunction with Biden and his aides, to spell out the specifics of the legislation.Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
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The U.S. Senate is expected to give its approval Tuesday to a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. The package includes about $550 billion in new spending and would pay for roads, water systems and improving access to broadband internet. Tuesday’s vote follows extensive negotiations between a group of Democrats and Republicans. There are those who oppose the measure on both sides, including Democrats who say it does not go far enough to address the nation’s needs and Republicans who object to the scope and price tag. But in the evenly split Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, the package is expected to have the support of more than two-thirds of the members. Approval in the Senate would send the measure to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are expected to consider it in September. “Let me say this, it has taken quite a long time, and there have been detours and everything else, but this will do a whole lot of good for America, and the Senate can be proud it has passed this,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. Republican Senator Rob Portman, who was involved in the bipartisan negotiations, called the package “the largest in our nation’s history.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, walk out of a budget resolution meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.“After decades of inaction, we will finally deliver the safe, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy & our country so desperately needs,” Portman tweeted late Monday. Schumer said Monday that after the vote on the infrastructure bill, the Senate would turn its attention to a $3.5 trillion, 10-year plan that includes items such as universal preschool, free community college, and money for affordable housing and clean energy programs. The larger package has the support of Democrats in the Senate, but not Republicans. Democrats are likely to proceed under a special process known as a budget reconciliation. That would allow the bill to advance with only a simple majority and not be subject to a potential filibuster, a move by the minority Republicans to block or delay a vote. A budget resolution would allow Democrats to pass spending legislation later in the year, also with a simple majority, to fill out the specifics of the programs. Debate on the $3.5 trillion plan is expected to continue for several months. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 
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After weeks of fits, starts and delays, the United States Senate is on track to give final approval to the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, with a growing coalition of Democrats and Republicans prepared to lift the first phase of President Joe Biden’s rebuilding agenda to passage.  Final Senate votes are expected Tuesday, and the bill would then go to the House. All told, some 70 senators appear poised to carry the bipartisan package to passage, a potentially robust tally of lawmakers eager to tap the billions in new spending for their states and show voters back home they can deliver.  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it’s “the first time the Senate has come together around such a package in decades.” U.S. Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, carries his empty lunch box back into the Capitol as the Senate continues to work through the bipartisan infrastructure bill, in Washington, August 9, 2021.The often-elusive political center is holding steady, a rare partnership with Biden’s White House. On the left, the Democrats have withstood the complaints of liberals who say the proposal falls short of what’s needed to provide a down payment on one of the president’s top priorities. From the right, the Republicans are largely ignoring the criticism from their most conservative and far-flung voices, including a barrage of name-calling from former President Donald Trump as he tries to derail the package. Together, a sizable number of business, farm and labor groups back the package, which proposes nearly $550 billion in new spending on what are typically mainstays of federal spending: roads, bridges, broadband internet, water pipes, and other public works systems that cities and states often cannot afford on their own.  “This has been a different sort of process,” said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator of the group of 10 senators who drafted the package. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the top Republican negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, works from his office on Capitol Hill, Aug. 9, 2021.Portman, a former White House budget director for George W. Bush, said the investments being made have been talked about for years, yet never seem to get done.  “We’ll be getting it right for the American people,” he said. The top Democratic negotiator, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, said she was trying to follow the example of fellow Arizonan John McCain to “reach bipartisan agreements that try to bring the country together.”  U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-AZ, arrives to deliver a floor speech as the U.S. Senate appears on track for passage of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, August 9, 2021.Still, not all senators are on board. Despite the momentum, action ground to a halt over the weekend when Senator Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican allied with Trump, refused to speed up the process.  Other Republican senators objected to the size, scope and financing of the package, particularly concerned after the Congressional Budget Office said it would add $256 billion to deficits over the decade.  Two Republicans, Senators Jerry Moran of Kansas and Todd Young of Indiana, had been part of initial negotiations shaping the package but ultimately announced they could not support it. Rather than pressure lawmakers, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has stayed behind the scenes for much of the bipartisan work. He has cast his own votes repeatedly to allow the bill to progress, calling the bill a compromise.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks off the Senate floor in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.Trump called Hagerty, who had been his ambassador to Japan, on Sunday, and the senator argued for taking more time for debate and amendments, in part because he wants to slow the march toward Biden’s second phase, a $3.5 trillion bill that Republicans fully oppose.  The outline for the bigger $3.5 trillion package is on deck next in the Senate — a more liberal undertaking of child care, elder care and other programs that is much more partisan and expected to draw only Democratic support. That debate is expected to extend into the fall. Unlike Biden’s bigger $3.5 trillion package, which would be paid for by higher tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, the bipartisan package is to be funded by repurposing other money and with other spending cuts and revenue streams. The bill’s backers argue that the budget office’s analysis was unable to take into account certain revenue streams — including from future economic growth. Senators have spent the past week processing nearly two dozen amendments to the 2,700-page package, but so far none has substantially changed its framework. One remaining issue, over tax compliance for cryptocurrency brokers, appeared close to being resolved after senators announced they had worked with the Treasury Department to clarify the intent.  But an effort to quickly adopt the cryptocurrency compromise was derailed by senators who wanted their own amendments, including one to add $50 billion for shipbuilding and other defense infrastructure. It’s unclear whether any further amendments will be adopted. The House is expected to consider both Biden infrastructure packages when it returns from recess in September. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the two bills will be considered together, but on Monday a bipartisan group of centrist lawmakers urged her to bring their smaller plan forward quickly, raising concerns about the bigger bill, in a sign of the complicated politics ahead. “This once-in-a-century investment deserves its own consideration,” wrote Democratic Representatives Josh Gottheimer and Jared Golden as well as others in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. “We cannot afford unnecessary delays.” 
 
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U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday unveiled a sweeping $3.5 trillion social safety net proposal that would sharply expand the role of the national government in the lives of millions of Americans. The plan formally embraces many of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promises to give impoverished people a better shot at joining middle-class American life. At the same time, it would expand government services across an array of existing and new programs. It would provide universal free prekindergarten schooling for 3- and 4-year-old children and two years of free community college classes for high school graduates. For older Americans, the plan would boost federal spending for added health care benefits, with first-time funding for dental, vision and hearing aid care. The Democrats’ plan, already being uniformly pilloried by Republican lawmakers as too costly and a vast overreach toward a socialist wish list of government largesse, also would invest new sums to fight climate change, change federal immigration laws and attempt to lower prescription drug prices. Some Democratic lawmakers have also voiced reservations about the massive cost of the proposal. The Senate Democrats say they would pay for the package with higher taxes on corporations and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, which Republicans also oppose because the changes would undo some of the tax cuts they enacted in 2017 under former President Donald Trump. The new spending proposal is in addition to the estimated $1 trillion infrastructure package for road and bridge repair, broadband internet construction, and rail and transit expansion that is nearing approval in the Senate, possibly on Tuesday. The Senate is likely to approve the infrastructure measure with unanimous Democratic support and about one-third of the 50-member Republican bloc of lawmakers before sending it to the House of Representatives, where some Democrats say the package is too small, and passage is uncertain.  Some House Democratic progressives say they won’t vote for the infrastructure package, another Biden priority, until they can approve the social safety net legislation.  FILE – In this image from Senate TV, Vice President Kamala Harris sits in the chair on the Senate floor to cast her first tie-breaking vote at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 5, 2021.Senate Democrats, with no Republican support, hope to push through the broad outlines of the new social safety net spending plan in the coming days on a simple majority vote in the politically divided Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote for the Democrats. But any eventual legislation, with specific spending proposals, could take Congress months for consideration and enactment. In introducing the $3.5 trillion package, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told Democratic colleagues in a letter, “At its core, this legislation is about restoring the middle class in the 21st Century and giving more Americans the opportunity to get there.” “By making education, health care, childcare, and housing more affordable, we can give tens of millions of families a leg up,” Schumer said. The social safety net legislation was largely drafted by one of the Senate’s most liberal lawmakers, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In a statement, Sanders said, “For too many decades, Congress has ignored the needs of the working class, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.” “Now is the time for bold action,” he said. “Now is the time to restore faith in ordinary Americans that their government can work for them, and not just wealthy campaign contributors.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky walks towards the Senate chamber in Washington, Aug. 9, 2021.But the Senate Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is scoffing at the Democratic proposal. He said last week that discussion of it “will thrust the Senate into an ultrapartisan showdown over the staggering, reckless taxing and spending spree” that Democrats want. He said Schumer is making Democrats vote on “nothing less than Chairman Sanders’ dream shopping list. Every American family will know exactly where their senator stands.” Nathan Brand, a Republican National Committee spokesperson, said, “As Democrats unveil their reckless tax-and-spend spree today, Americans are reminded just how out of touch Biden, Schumer and (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi are from the struggles everyday Americans are facing.” “From skyrocketing prices to an out-of-control border crisis to rising crime across the country, voters will hold Democrats accountable for abandoning working families in order to desperately push their radical left-wing agenda,” Brand said. 
 
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Former President Donald Trump mounted an intense pressure campaign on the U.S. Justice Department to overturn his election defeat in his final weeks in office, the department’s head during that time testified to lawmakers, a senior Senate Democrat said on Sunday.Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen provided “invaluable” testimony during seven hours of a closed-door hearing on Saturday, in which he implicated Trump in an attempt to subvert the election result, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin told CNN’s “State of the Union.”According to Durbin, Rosen testified that Trump directly pressured him to falsely assert that continuing election fraud investigations cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s victory.”It was real. Very real. And it was very specific,” Durbin said of Trump’s pressure on Rosen. “The former president is not subtle when he wants something.”Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Rosen, a conservative lawyer, for his voluntary cooperation with the committee’s ongoing investigation into Trump’s actions after the election.”I have to say history is going to be very kind to Mr. Rosen when this is all over. When he was initially appointed, I didn’t think that was the case. I was wrong,” Durbin said, adding: “It’s a good thing for America we had someone like Rosen in that position.”Rosen’s testimony came a week after a House of Representatives committee released Justice Department documents showing Trump had urged top officials last year to falsely claim his election defeat was corrupt.”Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump told Rosen, referring to Republicans, in a December 27 phone call, according to handwritten notes taken by a Rosen aide.The notes showed Rosen told Trump the department could not and would not “change the outcome of the election.”Durbin said in the CNN interview that his committee also wants testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr, who Rosen replaced during the final weeks of Trump’s presidency.Barr stepped down in December, shortly after the Electoral College confirmed Trump’s loss to Biden.Barr had angered Trump by not supporting his false claims that the November 3 election result had been tainted by widespread fraud. Multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s administration rejected those claims as unfounded.Durbin said he also wants to hear from former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who reportedly plotted with Trump to try to oust Rosen so he could take over the Justice Department.”I would like to bring in Jeffrey Clark, for example,” Durbin said. “He was the heir apparent in Trump’s mind if Rosen was not going to do his bidding. And Rosen stood fast and didn’t.”When asked if Trump engaged in an attempted coup, Durbin said: “It was leading up to that process.”Durbin declined to say whether Trump should face criminal charges for his efforts to subvert the election, saying it was too early in the investigation to answer that question.Last week, Douglas Collins, said the former president would not attempt to keep former Justice Department officials from testifying before either the House or the Senate committees, according to the New York Times.
 
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The U.S. Senate pushed a $1 trillion infrastructure package over two more procedural hurdles Sunday night, with a final vote on the measure expected Tuesday. A Sunday night vote of 69-28 blessed the details worked out by a bipartisan group of senators. A second vote of 68-29 limited debate on the overall bill. The votes show solid support for the spending deal that would help repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, expand broadband internet service, modernize rail and public transit systems and replace dangerous lead-pipe drinking water infrastructure. The legislation calls for the largest investment in decades toward U.S. physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports and waterways. Separately, Democrats are initiating a $3.5 trillion spending deal for social safety net programs that has drawn no Republican support. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives with his security detail as senators convene for a rare weekend session to continue work on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 8, 2021.The infrastructure package is one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, in part to show voters that the White House and Congress can agree on bipartisan efforts to benefit the country at a time when politically divided Washington lawmakers are stalemated on numerous other issues.  Before the Saturday vote to advance the infrastructure bill, Biden tweeted, “We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade.” Even though he, too, proposed infrastructure spending that failed to materialize, former President Donald Trump has attacked Republicans who support Biden’s package, saying they should wait until they control Congress again.   But a long-time Trump ally, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top-ranking Republican, indicated his support for the bill.   Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the chamber late Saturday afternoon, Aug. 7, 2021, after the Senate voted to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2021. “Republicans and Democrats have radically different visions these days, but both those visions include physical infrastructure that works for all of our citizens,” McConnell told the Senate. “The investments this bill will make are not just necessary, in many cases, they are overdue. Our country has real needs in this area.”   If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.   The package includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.   The deal includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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The U.S. Senate advanced a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package in a procedural vote Saturday, an indication the measure will eventually be approved in a final vote.A late-night session Thursday had ended with no compromises on the measure.“We can get this done the easy way or the hard way. In either case, the Senate will stay in session until we finish our work,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech before Saturday’s vote. “It’s up to my Republican colleagues how long it takes.”In a 67-27 vote showing solid bipartisan backing, senators invoked cloture, or limited debate on the legislation; such a move requires 60 votes from the 100-member Senate, meaning at least 10 Republicans were needed to join the 50 Democratic senators to cut off debate.Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chair of the Senate Finance Committee, stops for a reporter as the Senate votes to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 7, 2021.Roads, bridges, waterwaysThe bill, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities,  would provide for the largest investment in decades in U.S. physical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports and waterways.It would also advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services, and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.The cloture vote allowed for a final vote later Saturday or Sunday.Before the vote, Biden tweeted:We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy, and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade.— President Biden (@POTUS) FILE – House Transportation Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., center, joins Democratic leaders to discuss their legislative agenda, including infrastructure, during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, July 30, 2021.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.The measure includes $550 million in new spending and $450 billion in previously approved funds. There’s $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The U.S. Senate is holding a procedural vote Saturday on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, after a late-night session Thursday ended with no compromises.“We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively to finish this important bipartisan bill,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before midnight Thursday, according to The Associated Press.”We very much want to finish,” he said in announcing a cloture vote set for Saturday at noon EDT.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters about the bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2021.A vote to invoke cloture would end debate on the massive bill and allow for a final vote by the Senate later Saturday or Sunday. Three-fifths of the chamber’s senators — 60 of the 100 — would need to vote to invoke cloture to advance the bill.The package, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide tens of billions of dollars to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.Schumer, however, admonished Republicans for their actions on Thursday.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” he said, referring to Republicans.FILE – A man holds a token featuring the symbol of a cryptocurrency at his shop in Sandy, Utah.Among the amendments discussed were a provision to tax cryptocurrency and a demand for billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to a Reuters report.For the bill to make it to the Senate floor for a final vote, at least 10 Republicans must join the 50 Democratic senators to invoke cloture, ending debate.The infrastructure bill would then be submitted to a final vote by simple majority in the Senate, likely Saturday or Sunday.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, August 3, 2021.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.It includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.The package includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The U.S. Senate plans to hold a procedural vote Saturday on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, after a late-night session Thursday ended with no compromises.“We’ve worked long, hard and collaboratively to finish this important bipartisan bill,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said just before midnight Thursday, according to The Associated Press.”We very much want to finish,” he said in announcing a cloture vote set for Saturday at noon EDT.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to reporters about the bipartisan infrastructure bill at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2021.A vote to invoke cloture would end debate on the massive bill and allow for a final vote by the Senate later Saturday or Sunday. Three-fifths of the chamber’s senators — 60 of the 100 — would need to vote to invoke cloture to advance the bill.The package, one of President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities, would provide tens of billions of dollars to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, advance broadband internet service throughout the country, expand rail and transit services and replace lead-piped drinking water systems.Schumer, however, admonished Republicans for their actions on Thursday.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” he said, referring to Republicans.FILE – A man holds a token featuring the symbol of a cryptocurrency at his shop in Sandy, Utah.Among the amendments discussed were a provision to tax cryptocurrency and a demand for billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to a Reuters report.For the bill to make it to the Senate floor for a final vote, at least 10 Republicans must join the 50 Democratic senators to invoke cloture, ending debate.The infrastructure bill would then be submitted to a final vote by simple majority in the Senate, likely Saturday or Sunday.If the Senate approves the measure, the House of Representatives would then consider it. Passage appears less certain in the House, where some progressive Democratic lawmakers are complaining that the spending package is too small.U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, August 3, 2021.Biden has been vocal in his support for the infrastructure bill, aiming not only to describe the improvements that would be made across the U.S. but also to convince voters that major legislation can still be approved in politically fractious Washington.It includes $550 million in new spending, along with $450 billion in previously approved funds.The package includes $110 billion for roads and bridges, $39 billion for public transit, $66 billion for rail, and $55 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, as well as billions for airports, ports, broadband internet and electric vehicle charging stations.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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The U.S. Senate, unable to finalize a $1 trillion infrastructure bill Thursday, will try again Saturday when it are scheduled to hold a vote on limiting debate and moving toward passage of the hard-fought legislation.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struggled throughout the day to reach closure on a bipartisan bill that would trigger new construction projects throughout the United States to expand or refurbish roads, highways, bridges, airports and other public works, many of them in substandard condition.Following hours of closed-door negotiations, senators failed to reach an agreement on remaining amendments to the bill, beyond the dozens already debated this week.”We have been trying to vote on amendments all day but have encountered numerous objections from the other side,” Schumer said, referring to Republicans.Action on the legislation, which is at the top of Democratic President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, was held up by a flurry of demands from various senators, including a controversial move by some Republicans demanding billions of dollars in new Defense Department improvements, according to lawmakers.A separate disagreement over a cryptocurrency provision in the infrastructure bill also was simmering. 
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President Joe Biden on Thursday offered “profound gratitude” to law enforcement officers who responded to the January 6 Capitol insurrection as he signed legislation to award them Congressional Gold Medals for their service. The president thanked the officers for saving the lives of members of Congress during those “tragic hours” of the attack seven months ago.  The medal is the highest honor Congress can bestow. Joined by members of Congress, law enforcement officers and the families of police who died following the attack, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held the formal signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.  Many officers were brutally beaten and injured that day as the violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters pushed past them to break into the Capitol and interrupt the certification of Biden’s victory. Many of the insurrectionists repeated Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud as they hunted for lawmakers and tried to beat down the doors of the House chamber with lawmakers inside. Some of the officers, including four who testified at a House hearing last week, have spoken openly about the lasting mental and physical scars.  “My fellow Americans, let’s remember what this was all about,” Biden said of the siege. “It was a violent attempt to overturn the will of the American people, to seek power at all costs, to replace the ballot with brute force. To destroy, not to build. Without democracy, nothing is possible. With it, everything is.”  President Joe Biden listens to Vice President Kamala Harris speak in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.The Senate passed the legislation unanimously earlier this week. The new law will place the medals in four locations — Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol and the Smithsonian Institution. Biden said the medals will be at the Smithsonian “so all visitors can understand what happened that day.”  The Senate passed the legislation by voice vote, with no Republican objections. The House passed the bill in June, with 21 Republicans who have downplayed the insurrection in Trump’s defense voting against it.  Trump, along with many Republicans still loyal to him, has tried to rebrand the rioting as a peaceful protest, even as law enforcement officers who responded that day have detailed the violence and made clear the toll it has taken on them. The four officers who testified in the emotional hearing last week detailed near-death experiences as the rioters beat and crushed them on their way into the building. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges described foaming at the mouth, bleeding and screaming as the rioters tried to gouge out his eye and crush him between two heavy doors. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said a large group of people shouted the N-word at him as he was trying to keep them from breaching the House chamber. Both were at the White House ceremony, along with several other officers.  The officers testified at the first hearing of a new House committee investigating the insurrection. Most House Republicans have staunchly opposed the Democrat-led panel, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proposed after Senate Republicans blocked the formation of a bipartisan commission. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy has called the committee a “sham” and criticized Pelosi for rejecting two of the members he tried to appoint to the panel.Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California hugs Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone, in the Rose Garden of the White House, Aug. 5, 2021.Instead, McCarthy and other Republican leaders still loyal to Trump withdrew all their appointments and have tried to pin blame for the insurrection of Trump’s supporters on Pelosi, falsely claiming she was responsible for delays in military assistance that day. Biden said at Thursday’s ceremony that “we cannot allow history to be rewritten” and the officers’ heroism cannot be forgotten.  “We have to understand what happened,” Biden said. “The honest and unvarnished truth. We have to face it.”  At least nine people who were at the Capitol that day died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber and three other Trump supporters who suffered medical emergencies. Two police officers died by suicide in the days that immediately followed, and a third officer, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed and died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner determined he died of natural causes. Last week, the Metropolitan Police announced that two more of their officers who had responded to the insurrection had died by suicide. Officer Kyle DeFreytag was found dead on July 10 and Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his home Thursday. The circumstances that lead to their deaths are unknown.  “We are grieving as a department,” the police said in a statement. In a ceremony to send the bill to the president, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that January 6 was “a moment, a day of extraordinary tragedy for our country” and praised the Capitol Police for their bravery and patriotism.  “I’m so sad that it took a tragedy of this nature for the recognition to be given to them,” Pelosi said. The Congressional Gold Medal has been handed out by the legislative branch since 1776. Previous recipients include George Washington, Sir Winston Churchill, Bob Hope and Robert Frost. In recent years, Congress has awarded the medals to former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason, who became a leading advocate for people struggling with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and biker Greg LeMond. 
 
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The U.S. Senate on Thursday moved to end debate on a bipartisan, $1 trillion infrastructure bill, as leaders continued to negotiate behind the scenes on the best way to complete remaining amendments and move to a vote on passage.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up a vote for Saturday on limiting debate, a last step before passage. But he also said, “If we come to an agreement yet tonight, which is our preference, we will have additional votes on amendments.” FILE – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer attends a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 20, 2021.The Senate was scheduled to begin a summer recess next week, which is likely to be delayed by at least a few days. Once the infrastructure bill is voted on, the Senate is expected to begin work on a budget framework that Democrats hope will pave the way for a $3.5 trillion “human infrastructure” bill later this year.The measures must also pass the House of Representatives, where Democrats have a thin majority.Some senior House Democrats, including Representative Peter DeFazio, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, have expressed concern that the $1 trillion bill lacks sufficient climate measures.Progress on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill to finance construction of roads and bridges and expansion of broadband internet service to underserved rural areas came despite the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office announcing that it would increase federal budget deficits by $256 billion over 10 years.Lead negotiators on the bill argued the measure would be financed in a way so as not to incur deficit spending. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., talks to a reporter as lawmakers work to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 5, 2021.The sweeping package of funding is one of Democratic President Joe Biden’s top legislative priorities. Senator Thom Tillis, one of the Republicans who voted to advance it late last month, said he did not think the CBO findings would diminish his support for the legislation. He added that the agency did not take into account some provisions of the bill that would lessen its impact on deficits. FILE – Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, arrives as lawmakers work to advance the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 3, 2021.Other Republican senators, including Mitt Romney and Kevin Cramer, also continued to defend the bill. The CBO’s analysis said the bill would increase Washington’s revenue by $50 billion over the decade and increase discretionary spending by $415 billion. It did not include $57 billion in added revenue that senators estimated Washington would collect over the long term from the economic growth benefits of the infrastructure projects.It also did not count $53 billion in unused federal supplemental unemployment funds to be returned from states.The bill’s top two negotiators, Republican Senator Rob Portman and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, said in a joint statement that the CBO was “limited in what it can include in its formal score” of the bill. They added that new spending in the measure is “offset” through the combination of new revenue and savings, only some of which was taken into account by the CBO.In procedural votes in late July, the bill garnered more than enough votes to indicate it could pass the Senate on a bipartisan basis, with more than a dozen Republicans joining the Senate’s 50 Democrats and independents.The Senate is trying to wrap up work ahead of a scheduled five-week summer recess. 
 
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