(WASHINGTON) — In a key test vote Wednesday evening, the Senate voted in favor of beginning debate on a $1.1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal that would provide funding for core items like roads, bridges, waterways and broadband.

Negotiators announced earlier in the day that they had reached a deal on the major aspects of plan.

Shortly after news broke that a deal had been reached, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would hold the test vote on the bill Wednesday, a critical first step to its passage.

Republican negotiators, all of whom blocked the procedural motion last week, said that they were ready to vote to move the bill forward and on Wednesday evening, 17 Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — voted with all of the Democrats to advance the legislation, which was still being finalized. In a surprise split in the Republican leadership, McConnell’s deputy, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., voted no.

Details about the agreement were still emerging, but an aide close to the talks confirmed to ABC News that the top-line value for new spending has decreased from $579 billion in the original bipartisan agreement to $550 billion.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the lead Republican negotiator for the bipartisan group, said the bill is “more than paid for,” an essential priority for Republicans, without raising taxes on those making under $400,000 a year, a red line for President Joe Biden.

The deal includes $110 billion in new funds for roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail, $7.5 billion to build out electric vehicle charging stations, $17 billion for ports, $25 billion for airports, $55 billion for clean drinking water, a $65 billion investment in high-speed internet and more.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., the chief Democratic negotiator, told reporters that she expects some of the bill text to be available Wednesday with further updates released as the remaining details are worked out.

A “small, tiny thing” related to transit and a “small thing” related to broadband must still be addressed, Sinema said, adding that negotiators are “very excited” to have a deal.

Sinema said she spoke with Biden and said he too is “very excited” about and “committed to” the plan.

Biden released a statement Wednesday afternoon hailing the deal as a signal to the world that “our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things.”

“As the deal goes to the entire Senate, there is still plenty of work ahead to bring this home,” Biden wrote. “There will be disagreements to resolve and more compromise to forge along the way.”

Portman announced the agreement flanked by the four other Republicans in the core negotiating group early Wednesday afternoon.

“As of late last night and really early this morning we now have an agreement on the major issues we are prepared to move forward,” Portman said. “We look forward to moving ahead and having the opportunity to have a healthy debate here in the chamber regarding an incredibly important project to the American people.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who was part of the bipartisan negotiation group, touted the deal as a much-needed signal that bipartisanship is possible, even in an evenly divided Senate.

“I am delighted that we’ve been able to come together as a bipartisan group,” Collins said. “America needs to see us be able to tackle an important issue that will affect the lives of Americans throughout this country.”

It’s still not clear if all Democrats are going to support the bipartisan deal. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, said Wednesday morning that was an “unanswered question.”

“We certainly don’t have a whip or people signing on the dotted line,” Durbin said. “We need some assurances that we are all in this together.”

Wednesday’s test vote in the Senate was expected to be the first in a long series of hurdles to pass this bill and Biden’s other agenda priorities. In addition to the procedural hurdles which still threaten to trip up the bipartisan deal on the floor, Democrats are also working to push through a second, larger budget bill containing the remainder of Biden’s American Families Plan priorities along party lines.

Schumer has long insisted that both the budget bill and the bipartisan bill need to pass together using a “two-track” approach.

But Sinema threatened to derail that plan on Wednesday, announcing in a press release that she won’t support spending the $3.5 trillion that Budget Committee Democrats agreed to as a top line for the budget bill.

“I have told Senate leadership and President Biden that I support many of the goals in this proposal to continue creating jobs, growing American competitiveness, and expanding economic opportunities for Arizonans,” Sinema said. “I have also made clear that while I will support beginning this process, I do not support a bill that costs $3.5 trillion — and in the coming months, I will work in good faith to develop this legislation with my colleagues and the administration to strengthen Arizona’s economy and help Arizona’s everyday families get ahead.”

To pass the budget bill, Democrats will need the support of every Democrat serving in the Senate. Sinema’s opposition points to the possibility of a long road ahead for many of Biden’s infrastructure priorities.
 

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(WASHINGTON) — Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday battled over the new House of Representatives’ new mask mandate, with more than a dozen Republicans voting twice without masks, despite new guidance from the Capitol physician aimed at preventing fast-spreading COVID-19 infections.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy “such a moron” Wednesday morning when asked about his criticism of the new mask mandate in the House.

“That’s the decision from the Capitol physician, a mandate from him,” Pelosi told reporters. “I have nothing to say about that, except we honor it.”

Asked about McCarthy saying the decision was not “based on science,” she replied, “He’s such a moron,” as she got into her car.

In a directive issued Tuesday night, The Office of the Attending Physician, Dr. Brian Monahan, said it was now required that all members and staff wear “medical-grade” masks throughout the House, unless members are speaking in the halls of the House or individuals are alone.

Members and staff will once again be prohibited from stepping on the floor to vote without a mask, or risk incurring fines.

The directive cited the increasing threat from the delta variant and noted House members travel weekly to and from areas of both high and low rates of disease spread. It also mentioned the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mask guidance for vaccinated people to wear masks indoors in where transmission is high or substantial, as well as recommending universal masking in schools.

“The same bureaucratic ‘public health experts’ who completely upended our society by pushing lockdowns and yearlong school closures now want to force Americans to return to pre-vaccine control measures. By forcing vaccinated Americans to return to masks, the Biden administration is not only casting doubt on a safe and effective vaccine, but contradicting why vaccines exist,” McCarthy said in a statement in response. “Make no mistake — the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.”

After meeting with the top doctor on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, McCarthy took to the House floor to decry the return of the House mask mandate and to slam Pelosi for calling him a “moron.”

“Today, the Speaker who didn’t know her own science, and said names to people, broke her own rules. Twice today, I saw the speaker in a crowded room without a mask. Less than 24 hours after imposing a mask mandate,” he said.

“You don’t know the facts or the science!” he said. “Do you know what frustrates Americans the most? Hypocrisy.”

McCarthy claimed the vaccination rate for members of Congress is over 85 percent. “And, as of today, the transmission rate on the Capitol campus is less than 1 percent,” he continued. “Well, the facts would tell us this isn’t a hot spot, so the CDC recommendation doesn’t apply to us!”

Republicans derailed the House floor schedule twice earlier on Wednesday, by forcing procedural votes protesting the new requirements.

At one point, the House was forced to vote on a motion to adjourn offered by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas to disrupt proceedings, ostensibly over the mask mandate.

“This sham of an institution is doing nothing for the American people!” Roy yelled.

“We have people infected with Covid coming across the southern border,” he added, demanding that Dr. Fauci appear before Congress to testify about natural immunity. “Which is it? Vaccines or masks?”

“I don’t believe that masks make any difference,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told ABC News when asked why he wasn’t wearing a mask. “If they’ve been vaccinated, what are they worried about a threat from me?”

When asked if he had been vaccinated, he said, “I don’t answer that question because it’s no one’s business.”

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, another unmasked member, said he had “double immunity” from the vaccine and a prior COVID-19 infection.

“I’ll pay the fines, I’m not wearing a damn mask,” he said.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., another unmasked and unvaccinated member, got into a shouting match with liberal Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., who told him to “get vaccinated,” and continued the feud on Twitter.

“You can’t compel people to put something in their own body. People have to decide to do that for themselves,” Donalds said. “I’m 42, healthy, and I already had COVID.”

Asked about his colleague Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who was hospitalized despite believing he already had COVID, he said, “The reality is that people are going to make their own decisions.”

As for the possibility of spreading the disease to vulnerable people with preexisting conditions, he said, “Anybody would be concerned about that.”

“What we’re doing is shifting the goalposts to eliminating COVID. And I want to eliminate COVID but we can’t be just shifting the goalposts on every American,” Higgins said. “If you have symptoms, go get tested. If you test positive, go isolate. This is not hard.”

Among the Republicans bristling at the return of the mask mandate on Wednesday was longtime opponent Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who was seen throwing a mask back at a House staffer who offered her one.

According to two people who saw the exchange, Boebert threw a mask back at a staffer on the House floor and refused to put one on to comply with the latest rules. One person said she threw the mask on the ground.

Boebert’s office did not dispute the exchange, saying in a statement, “Rep. Boebert refuses to comply with Speaker Pelosi’s anti-science, totalitarian mask mandate. When offered a mask, she returned it with a quick slide across the table.”

Boebert could receive a $500 fine for breaking the new mandate. GOP Reps. Roy, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who also appeared on the floor without masks, could be fined as well.

Members can appeal the fines to the ethics committee, and receive $2500 fines for subsequent offenses.

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