WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate negotiators have reached agreement on the major components of a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, clearing the way for a procedural vote on Wednesday to move toward formal debate and passage, a Republican lawmaker said.
“We now have agreement on the major issues. We are prepared to move forward,” Senator Rob Portman, the lead Republican negotiator in infrastructure talks, told reporters after a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Details of the legislation were still being finalized. But the Ohio Republican predicted that legislative text for the bill would be completed later on Wednesday, when the Senate was expected to hold a “cloture” vote to move forward on the package after months of talks.
The procedural vote would simply limit debate on whether the Senate should begin considering a bipartisan infrastructure investment bill, thought to be in the range of $1.2 trillion.
Four other Republican negotiators joined Portman, including Senator Lisa Murkowski, who said the agreement showed Republicans and Democrats in the often divided U.S. Congress “can come together over really hard stuff to negotiate in good faith to broker an agreement.”
The agreement includes $110 billion for roads, $65 billion to expand broadband access and $47 billion for environmental resiliency, the lawmakers said.
Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a procedural vote on a bipartisan bill was possible as soon as Wednesday night.
“Senators continue to make good progress,” Democrat Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Before the announcement, Murkowski told reporters: “I think that there is a strong, solid number of folks on both sides of the aisle that want to get on to an infrastructure package.”
Democrats hope to pass this month or early next month whatever measure is agreed upon in the bipartisan negotiations.
That could help clear the way for Democrats to begin pushing another large spending bill totaling around $3.5 trillion that Republicans have vowed to oppose.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis, Diane Craft and David Gregorio)
