Bipartisan infrastructure negotiators scramble for deal as key funding option dropped

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set a Wednesday deadline for a key test vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill -- turning up the heat and pressure.

Capitol Hill -- The group of 10 bipartisan infrastructure negotiators was already having trouble coming up with ways to pay for nearly $600 billion in planned new spending, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer setting a Wednesday deadline for a key test vote on their bill turned up the heat and pressure significantly. "That’s pretty aggressive. That means we have a lot of work to do," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a key GOP negotiator, announcing that she and her colleagues would be working through the weekend to try to finish up the details of their $1.2 trillion plan. ABC News has learned that one of the key components that negotiators had been relying on to finance the package -- a boost in IRS tax enforcement to go after unpaid taxes -- is out, leaving negotiators scrambling to come up with a replacement for a proposal that was expected to generate around $100 billion in estimated revenue to help offset the $579 billion in new spending in the legislation. "I think we’re all trying to think about other ways to get there," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., emerging from a nearly four-hour marathon negotiating session behind closed doors Thursday night. About halfway through that meeting, senior White House officials joined the bipartisan group, including senior counselor Steve Recchetti and Biden’s Legislative Affairs Director Louisa Terrell -- a sign of just how important the measure is to the president's agenda.