Schumer: Senators will 'get the job done' on infrastructure

The Senate has convened for a rare weekend session

WASHINGTON -- The Senate convened for a rare weekend session on Saturday, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraging the authors of a bipartisan infrastructure plan to finish writing their bill so that senators can begin offering amendments. Several senators had predicted that the text of the bill would be ready for review late Friday or early Saturday, but it was not done when the Senate opened for business late in the morning. Schumer said he understood that completing the writing of such a large bill is a difficult project, but he warned that he was prepared to keep lawmakers in Washington for as long as it took to complete votes on both the bipartisan infrastructure plan and a budget blueprint that would allow the Senate to begin work later this year on a massive, $3.5 trillion social, health and environmental bill. ”The longer it takes to finish, the longer we will be here, but we’re going to get the job done," Schumer said. The bipartisan plan is also big, with $550 billion in new spending over five years beyond the typical highway and public works accounts. Adding the anticipated spending in those accounts in the next five years bumps up the total cost to nearly $1 trillion. A draft bill circulating Capitol Hill indicated it could have more than 2,500 pages when introduced. It’s being financed from funding sources that might not pass muster with deficit hawks, including repurposing untapped COVID-19 relief aid and relying on projected future economic growth.