Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the 11 Republican senators working on an infrastructure deal are “absolutely committed to it.”
Anchor Chuck Todd said, “There are many Democratic activists whispering in the administration’s ear. You think you have 11 Republicans, and the deal dies, or this is being dragged back. How committed is this group of 11 Republicans to sticking by this bill even if Mitch McConnell says he can’t vote for it?”
Portman said, “I think we’re absolutely committed to it. I think there’s a number of others as well on both sides of the aisle. Last week I heard from a lot of my colleagues saying I just need to look at one other issue, can you do this, do that. There’s a lot of interest in having a bipartisan proposal. Chuck, this is growing the vote from the middle out. Unfortunately, that’s where we are right now in Congress. It’s more likely we’ll have success in doing that. You recall at the end of last year, we did the same thing with regard to a COVID-19 package which helped to get that final package done at the end of the year after really almost a year of no activity on something that was really necessary. This is the same thing. Everybody wants to do infrastructure. President Trump had a $2 trillion package he was proposing. President Biden proposed one in his campaign. By the way, this helps President Biden keep that pledge of having an infrastructure package, but also to keep his pledge of doing things cross the aisle and getting something done.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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