U.S. Senate Republicans urge delay of bipartisan infrastructure vote

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said that the upper chamber should not vote on a bill before senators see it. Republican Senator Susan Collins, one of the lawmakers involved in bipartisan infrastructure talks, told Reuters that Schumer's Wednesday deadline appeared to be too ambitious, even as senators in the group said they continued to work on the legislation.

U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday called on Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to delay a planned procedural vote on a bipartisan infrastructure package, as negotiators struggled with ways to pay for the cost of the measure.

Schumer said last week that he would begin the process on Monday for the Senate to hold a Wednesday procedural vote on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that is a key part of Democratic President Joe Biden's agenda. It is unclear if the bipartisan bill could garner the necessary votes to move forward on Wednesday. Republican Senator Rob Portman, one of the leaders of the group, has said he would vote against the bill if legislation was not ready. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said that the upper chamber should not vote on a bill before senators see it.

Republican Senator Susan Collins, one of the lawmakers involved in bipartisan infrastructure talks, told Reuters that Schumer's Wednesday deadline appeared to be too ambitious, even as senators in the group said they continued to work on the legislation. "It's more important that we come up with a quality bill than it is that we meet an arbitrary deadline that he's plucked out of the air," she said.

Senator John Thune, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, urged Schumer to delay the Wednesday vote if the legislation is not ready by then. "If he moves ahead arbitrarily, before they actually come to some sort of a deal, then yeah, all it's going to do is drag it out, make it harder to get a deal in the end, I think. So I hope he'll reconsider," Thune told reporters.

Thune said "the pay-fors are a long ways from being ready." Aides to Schumer did not immediately respond to request for comment about a possible delay.

Schumer has said infrastructure was moving on two tracks. Aside from the first, bipartisan track, Democrats are also moving forward with a different $3.5 trillion infrastructure package using a procedural tool known as reconciliation. McConnell has said that all Republicans in the evenly divided Senate will vote against the reconciliation bill, which means every Democrat will need to vote for it if it is to pass. The mammoth bill has stirred unease among some of the party's moderate members.

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