⚡ Punchbowl News Special Edition: Schumer leans on bipartisan infrastructure group

BY JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN
WITH MAX COHEN AND CHRISTIAN HALL

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced this morning that he expects to file cloture on the bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill on Monday, a gamble aimed at pressuring the group to find a deal in the next few days.

The bill is not yet written, so this is Schumer playing hardball. He’s trying to force the bipartisan group to get a bill, and bring it to the floor as soon as possible. The group had said that they wanted to make the big decisions on their bill today.

The cloture vote on the motion to proceed would be July 21, and then 30 hours of debate before a vote on the motion to proceed. Schumer is also setting next Wednesday as a deadline for Democrats to agree on the budget resolution with reconciliation instructions. The House will be in next week.

Again, this is Schumer pushing hard for a bipartisan deal. The group has been struggling to wrap up the legislation, and has been fighting over how to pay for the proposal. The bill is not finished and has no Congressional Budget Office score. 

The White House wants this deal, so if the Senate doesn’t make this deadline, it seems doubtful that Schumer will pull the plug.

We will have more about this in Punchbowl News Midday.

Thanks for reading, and being a Premium subscriber.