House GOP leadership urges opposition to infrastructure bill ahead of key vote

House GOP leaders are rallying Republican lawmakers in opposition to an infrastructure bill that is expected to come to a vote next week, the latest sign of partisan divisions on Capitol Hill and a warning for Democrats that they cannot afford large defections within their own party if they want the legislation to pass.

The roughly $1.2 trillion legislation passed out of the Senate in August with 19 Republican senators voting for the bill. The measure, which includes funding for priorities like roads, bridges, rail, transit and the electric grid, was the culmination of painstaking negotiations between a bipartisan group of senators and the Biden administration, a process that showcased a rare example of successful deal-making between Democrats and Republicans on a major legislative package.

But House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued on Thursday that the legislation should no longer be considered bipartisan, arguing that it is now inextricably linked with a far larger $3.5 trillion economic package that Democrats want to pass without GOP support in the Senate to address a wide range of priorities from climate change to health care. House GOP leaders announced Wednesday that they are formally whipping against the infrastructure bill, so if any rank-and-file members vote against it, they would be directly bucking leadership.