As Sarah Longmore finished her back-to-school shopping, the mother of five looked at a $25 backpack for her preschooler. Soaring inflation had crunched the family s budget, and she decided her daughter could make do with a hand-me-down. She put the backpack back.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted to proceed with a bipartisan infrastructure deal that was struck earlier in the day, clearing the first hurdle toward adopting a long-awaited and hotly debated spending package.
In a key procedural vote, senators voted 67-32 to push the bill forward, meeting the 60-vote threshold. All 50 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted in favor.
The vote starts the process to debate and amend the proposal, and the final version still needs approval from both chambers.
The vote came just a few hours after Senator Rob Portman from Ohio, the top Republican negotiator, told reporters that a bipartisan group of senators had reached an agreement on the major issues of the infrastructure plan.