Last week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the Energy Infrastructure Act by a vote of 13-7, with Senators Steve Daines (R-Montana), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) voting with Committee Democrats in favor of the bill. Forty-eight bipartisan amendments were incorporated into the bill during markup, with most being adopted en bloc by voice vote at the start of the meeting. The Energy Infrastructure Act represents the Committee’s intended contribution to the infrastructure deal currently being negotiated by a bipartisan group of Senators. Included in the nearly $100 billion overall authorization, the bill would authorize $3.5 billion to the U.S. Departments of the Interior and to reduce the risk of wildfires on federal lands as well as $1 billion for rural water projects. Click here for a full summary of the bill.
Additionally, on Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Schumer’s (D-New York) procedural vote to advance to debate on the bipartisan infrastructure package failed in a vote of 49-51. Notably, Senate Majority Leader Schumer himself switched his vote to ‘no’ at the last second “for procedural reasons” to ensure that he would be able to hold another procedural vote at a later date. The bipartisan group is still trying to finalize details of the proposal and is hoping to have actual language to vote on again early next week. According to Mitt Romney (R-Utah), a member of the bipartisan group, "I think we’ll get it done over the weekend, and then I hope that we get another cloture vote next week, and that will succeed."
