• U.S. Senate advances $1T infrastructure plan,

WASHINGTON — The Senate further advanced a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan Friday with a bipartisan group of senators helping it clear one more hurdle and bracing to see if support can hold during the next few days of debate and efforts to amend it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the chamber should be able to process the legislation quickly given the bipartisan support. But as the day dragged into evening, the full text of what promises to be a massive bill was not finished by the time lawmakers adjourned.

Senators will return for a rare Saturday session as they push through a lengthy process.

The effort got off to a haphazard start Friday. Shortly after the Senate began the procedural vote, it was stopped. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the reason was that some of the text in the draft bill did not comport with the agreement between the negotiators. The rare bipartisan work is testing senators’ ability to trust one another.

Moments later, the vote resumed and the effort to proceed to consideration passed by a vote of 66-28.

Earlier this week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start the debate, launching what will be a dayslong process to consider the bill. That support largely held Friday with Republican Leader

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky again voting yes to nudge the process along.

But whether the number of Republican senators willing to pass a key part of President Joe Biden’s agenda grows or shrinks in the days ahead will determine if the president’s signature issue can make it across the finish line.

Mr. Schumer had hoped to introduce the text of the bill later in the day with supporters aiming to complete action before leaving for the August recess. Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., released a statement saying they were close to finalizing the legislative text and hoped to make it public later in the day.

But Friday came and went without final paperwork that’s now expected Saturday.

The bipartisan plan is big, with $550 billion in new spending over five years beyond the typical highway and public works accounts. A draft circulating Capitol Hill indicated it could have more than 2,500 pages when introduced. It’s being financed from funding sources that may not pass muster with deficit hawks, including repurposing untapped COVID-19 relief aid and relying on projected future economic growth.