'A big deal': $550 billion infrastructure spending deal passes key test vote in Senate

WASHINGTON — A major infrastructure package passed a key test vote Wednesday in the Senate, just hours after a bipartisan working group announced a deal after more than a month of negotiating.

The Senate voted 67 to 32 to begin debate on the measure, getting 17 Republicans to sign on, more than the 10 needed to break a filibuster.

The proposal includes $550 billion in new spending to build roads, public transit and other priorities of President Joe Biden, injecting a windfall of money into a series of transportation projects that have long enjoyed support from both parties.

"It is a big deal," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill, told NBC News.

Final passage is not yet assured, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said senators may work into the weekend to finish it up.

"We are proud to announce we have reached a bipartisan agreement on our proposal to make the strongest investment in America’s critical infrastructure in a generation. Our plan will create good-paying jobs in communities across our country without raising taxes," the working group of 21 senators, led by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a statement.

Portman and other Republicans announced the agreement earlier on Wednesday after meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to advance the proposal.

The agreement came after the two parties said they had resolved contentious issues such as the distribution of money between highways and public transportation, as well as broadband policy.

"This bill is paid for," Portman said.

In a statement, President Joe Biden hailed the bipartisan Senate agreement as the "most significant long-term investment in our infrastructure and competitiveness in nearly a century."

"This deal signals to the world that our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things," he said. "This deal makes key investments to put people to work all across the country—in cities, small towns, rural communities, and across our coastlines and plains."

The $550 billion in new spending on infrastructure projects, which was confirmed by two aides familiar with the negotiations, is down from the $579 billion negotiators previously targeted. The spending will amount to $1 trillion when factoring in other, expected funding for transportation projects.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she was "delighted" that a deal had been reached.

She said she has been working with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to finalize the broadband policies.

"There is $65 billion in broadband deployment and affordability programs. Our goal is to ensure that there is far greater access to high-speed internet services," Collins said.

Just before the vote, former President Donald Trump released a statement calling it a "a terrible deal" and telling Republicans they look "weak, foolish, and dumb" for supporting it. He did not identify any policies in the deal that he opposes and did not say what GOP negotiators should have asked for.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., appeared to take a dig at a similar statement Trump released earlier in the week objecting to the infrastructure deal, which was largely ignored on Capitol Hill.

“I am amazed that there’s some who oppose this just because they think that if you ever get anything done, somehow it's a sign of weakness," Cassidy told reporters. "I have no clue what they mean. My state has been impacted more than any other state by flooding and natural disasters these past two years."

He said the package includes $110 billion for roads.