Senate Republican leadership previewed the defeat of Democrats' latest spending proposal that GOP members characterized as a “reckless, tax and spending spree.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) planned to set up a vote on advancing the spending package on Wednesday, but GOP leadership said that no Republicans will support the bill, effectively making it dead-on-arrival.
Thune, the GOP whip, says he expects all 50 Republicans to vote against proceeding to the infrastructure bill tomorrow with the talks still going on
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 20, 2021
“If he moves ahead arbitrarily before they’ve come to some sort of a deal all it’s going to do is drag it out and make it harder to do in the end,” Thune says of Schumer.
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) July 19, 2021
Says “the legislation is not drafted, the payfors are a long ways away. Patience is going to be a virtue”
Senate GOP Chairman Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Schumer will have to make their members “walk the plank” to advance the package. The lawmakers noted that the text of the bill has not even been unveiled yet.
"We're not going to vote to proceed with a bill that doesn't exist yet. This is not a very high standard to set. We want to have a bill to go to," Senate Republican Policy Chairman Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) said of the vote on the package, "before we vote to go to a bill."
Other lawmakers have urged Schumer to delay the vote on the bill until the final text is available.
Yesterday, @SenSchumer teed up the first vote on an infrastructure bill no one has seen yet. That doesn't sound like a recipe for success.
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 20, 2021
Why in the world would he do this? The only logical conclusion I can come up with is he wants this bill and this bipartisan effort to fail.
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) July 20, 2021
Thus far, all Democrat Senators are voting to advance the bill, but will not be able to overcome the 60-vote threshold.
