Senate GOP threatens to block vote on bipartisan infrastructure deal if talks aren’t concluded

By Manu Raju, Lauren Fox and Alex Rogers, CNN

Senate Republican leaders threatened on Monday to block a vote later this week advancing the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the negotiators strike a deal on it.

“We need to see the bill before voting to go to it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. “I think that’s pretty easily understood.”

Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota told reporters Monday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is making a major mistake if he moves ahead with a key test vote on the plan.

“I can’t say we will have every Republican, but he is not going to get 60,” Thune warned.

Schumer, a Democrat from New York, set up a test vote for Wednesday on the legislation, which doesn’t exist yet, in order to spur the Republican and Democratic negotiators to write it. Schumer said on Monday that if the senators don’t draft it by Thursday, he will offer a bill consisting of relatively noncontroversial provisions, so the Senate can start debate on a key priority for the Biden administration.

“I understand that both sides are working very hard to turn the bipartisan infrastructure framework into final legislation, and they will continue to have more time to debate, amend and perfect the bill once the Senate votes to take up this crucial issue,” Schumer said. “But they have been working on this bipartisan framework for more than a month already, and it’s time to begin the debate.”

In June, the White House and a bipartisan Senate group agreed to a $579 billion framework to build roads, bridges, railroads and airports, along with water, power and broadband infrastructure projects.

But lawmakers have since struggled over how to pay for the massive investment, and have made their task even harder by agreeing to scrap a provision that would have strengthened the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to collect unpaid taxes, which would’ve raised up to $100 billion in government revenue. The bipartisan infrastructure talks will continue on Monday evening over Zoom, multiple sources tell CNN.

Republicans have criticized Schumer for preparing the procedural vote on Wednesday, and argued he’s trying to undermine the negotiations. They are particularly hesitant to vote to advance a shell of a bill before the Congressional Budget Office determines how much it would add to the US debt.

A GOP source with knowledge of the negotiations said Republican senators have made a direct appeal to the White House to urge Schumer to back off his plans, as they’ve publicly made clear they need more time.

“We are going to be hard-pressed to be ready to vote,” said Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “I don’t want us to lose the momentum and just the energy that we’ve built.”

“If we don’t have a bill agreed to, I have a hard time understanding why we would proceed to a bill,” added GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah.

The negotiators are even split on how far apart they are. West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin expressed confidence on Monday that they could quickly address their concerns over how to pay for the bill before the vote.

“We should have that done tonight,” said Manchin.

But Sen. Rob Portman, the lead Republican negotiator in the talks, said there are still over a dozen issues to work out, and argued the group has not had enough time to negotiate a deal. He suggested the Senate shouldn’t vote on it until they do.

Portman said he doesn’t know how much more time the group will need, but said they’re “at a sprinter’s pace given the significance of this.” He said he was on Zoom calls with Democrats and Republicans until 10:15 p.m. ET on Sunday night and started meetings at 7 a.m. ET Monday with members and the CBO.

“We’re working as hard as we can,” he said. “I can’t imagine that we’ll have a cloture vote on something that’s not yet done. I mean, what are we going to have the cloture vote on?”

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he’d oppose Wednesday’s vote, and asserted there would not be 10 Republicans to join all 50 Democrats in voting to start a floor debate on the bill unless a deal is secured.

“I don’t think they’re going to get there,” Cornyn said. “Even the bipartisan negotiators say they’re not ready and this is really an arbitrary deadline.”

Schumer has brushed aside the Republicans’ concerns. He said on Thursday, “there’s no reason why we can’t start voting next Wednesday, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester agreed that the vote Wednesday should happen.

“Yeah, I think it puts pressure on us to get some s— done,” Tester said.

The Democrats have set up two-track negotiations to broadly address the country’s infrastructure needs. The first involves the emerging bipartisan plan. The second is a $3.5 trillion Democratic bill that would include other priorities many Republicans oppose, such as offering paid medical and family leave and potentially even overhauling the country’s immigration system.

But some Democrats have balked at the price tag for the Democratic-only bill.

Manchin declined to say Monday whether he was comfortable with the huge figure.

“I’m just trying to get more information tonight,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.

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CNN’s Ali Zaslav and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.