Ossoff's Office @SenOssoff · BREAKING: Following a strong push by Sen. @Ossoff and @SenatorWarnock to expedite passage of the bill, the U.S. Senate just passed the bipartisan U.S. Innovation & Competition Act, which includes $52 billion to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
BIDEN TELLS SCHUMER TO PREPARE PARTY-LINE VOTE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN AS TALKS WITH GOP BREAK DOWN Chris Sommerfeldt - 1 hr ago New York Daily News
President Biden is ordering Senate Democrats to start preparing for the increasingly likely scenario that they’ll have to pass his infrastructure plan via a complex legislative process that doesn’t require GOP support, signaling that his patience for negotiating with the Republicans is drying up.
Biden, who has tried to reach a compromise with GOP negotiators for weeks, told Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday to “commence work” on a so-called reconciliation resolution for the infrastructure bill he envisions costing at least $1.7 trillion, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Reconciliation is a long-winded budgetary process that allows the Senate to pass legislation in simple majority votes, circumventing the customary 60-vote threshold. Biden’s green light for the go-it-alone alternative suggests he’s coming around to the fact that his infrastructure package may not get any Republican votes.
Still, Psaki said Biden is holding out hope for a bipartisan deal. First off, he will switch up who he’s talking to from the other side of the aisle, she said.