Senate OKs infrastrux

President Biden notched his first major bipartisan legislative win Tuesday when the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — but the ink was still wet when Senate Democrats began work to ram through a $3.5 trillion social-spending follow-up.

The quick sequence has conservatives uneasy about the ballooning deficit and the possible impact on inflation. But Biden took a victory lap, declaring the start of an “infrastructure decade.”

“This bill is going to help make a historic recovery a long-term boom,” Biden said at the White House. “This bill shows that we can work together.”

The infrastructure bill passed the Senate with 19 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in voting for it. Passage in the Democrat-controlled House is likely weeks away because of a scheduled summer vacation period.

“After years and years of ‘InfraAnother Biden: $1.2T plan will ‘transform’ US structure Week,’ we’re [on] the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I truly believe will transform America,” Biden said.

The eight-year program includes $550 billion in new spending over the first five years.

Biden crowed about its Senate passage as Democrats in the chamber began the process of attempting to force through a supplementary $3.5 trillion bill that includes much of the social spending — on child care, free preschool and paid leave — that didn’t gain support from Republicans.

The initial infrastructure bill sets aside $110 billion for roads and bridges, $66 billion for passenger and freight rail, $65 billion for broadband Internet, more than $50 billion for water infrastructure, $39 billion for public transit and $25 billion for airports.

The bill contained big wins for Democrats who wanted global warming to be addressed, including $7.5 billion to install new electric vehicle charging stations and $5 billion to buy electric and low-emission buses.

The bill would put $73 billion toward “clean energy transmission . . . including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy,” a White House fact sheet said.

$21 billion goes to environmental remediation, “making the largest investment in addressing the legacy pollution that harms the public health of communities and neighborhoods in American history,” the White House said.

The infrastructure bill would add $256 billion to the federal deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The White House disputed some details in the estimate.

The social-spending bill would hike taxes on businesses and higher incomes and is expected to gain no Republican votes. Special budget reconciliation rules allow for passage with a bare majority in the Senate, rather than the typical 60 votes needed.

Centrist Democrats are likely to demand major changes to the follow-up bill and Republicans who voted for the initial package are vowing resistance.