The bipartisan infrastructure deal faces a big test vote Wednesday

Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) finalized plans Monday night to hold a test vote Wednesday on the bipartisan infrastructure deal still being hammered out, nearly a month after a group of senators and President Biden agreed on the framework. Wednesday's vote "is not a deadline to determine every final detail of the bill," Schumer said Monday. "All a yes vote on the motion to proceed simply means that the Senate is ready to begin debating and amending a bipartisan infrastructure bill. No more, no less."

Schumer's test vote is meant to put pressure on the 10 Senate negotiators to finalize their deal and to test the sincerity of the GOP negotiators, especially after Republicans vetoed increased funding for IRS tax-fraud enforcement, a key means of paying for the package. Chief GOP negotiator Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said progress is being made and, like many GOP colleagues, threatened to vote no Wednesday if the legislation isn't on paper.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Despite the GOP protests, holding a vote on unfinished legislation is "a tried-and-true strategy for both parties," Politico notes. When McConnell was majority leader, "Republicans kicked off their drive to repeal ObamaCare with a vote on proceeding to an unwritten bill; just this Congress, senators in both parties advanced hate crimes and competitiveness legislation before it was finished."

"It will probably become clear within days whether the back-and-forth is the usual last-minute haggling before a complex deal comes together in Congress or something more ominous," The Washington Post adds.

"If there's no finalized deal and the procedural vote fails, senators said they would still continue to work on the infrastructure legislation," Politico says. And "if the bipartisan talks end up fully imploding, Democrats can roll the group's work into their unilateral spending bill that's still being written, with a top line price tag of $3.5 trillion." Schumer said his timeline, including Wednesday's vote, is backed by all five Democrats negotiating the bipartisan package.

"I still believe Chuck's got the right schedule," said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). And if Wednesday's vote fails, "what the hell? Keep us here in August."

Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.