House Democrats Pass Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill After Months of Negotiations

The House of Representatives finally passed the bipartisan infrastructure package after months of Democratic intra-party negotiations.

13 Republicans joined the Democratic majority to pass it, while only six Democrats voted against it.

For the past few months, House Democrats have been working to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package passed by the Senate, as well as the Build Back Better spending bill with a number of Biden administration agenda items.

Progressives made it clear they wanted a vote on the latter in tandem with the former, and there have been weeks and weeks of back-and-forths between moderates and progressives. In particular, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema voiced opposition to initial versions of the BBB legislation and some provisions have been removed to get to a deal.

Minutes before the vote Friday night, a group of Democratic moderates led by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D- NJ) announced they are making a commitment to vote on the BBB legislation if the infrastructure bill is passed tonight.

That statement was followed by another from Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D- WA), who said they have reached an agreement to vote for the infrastructure bill. However, some progressives — including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D- NY) — still told reporters they would vote no.