Senate blocks progress on highway bill

The Senate failed to move forward with legislation authorizing highway funding for six years after Democrats objected that they had yet to see the bill’s details.

In a 41-56 vote, the Senate voted against proceeding to a bill that will be used as a vehicle for the six-year highway deal brokered by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

{mosads}Democrats weren’t alone in voicing opposition. Several Republicans, including Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), Richard Shelby (Ala.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.), also voted against the procedural motion.

The vote represents a bad start for the McConnell-Boxer deal, but doesn’t mean the death of the legislation.

McConnell immediately after the vote said he understood many Democrats wanted more time to consider the 1,030-page bill, which he said was now available for review.

He then said the Senate would be in session on Saturday and Sunday.

“I know I haven’t threatened a Saturday session all year,” McConnell said, adding that such sessions could be necessary to get a bill to the House next week. 

“We need to keep at it, and that will require us more definitely to be in here this weekend,” he said. 

Boxer and McConnell rolled out the bill, which includes three years of funding, on Tuesday morning. Boxer, at the time, called the legislation a “breakthrough.”

But Democratic leadership warned ahead of the vote that they wanted more time to read the legislation, and were planning to block it. 

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said earlier Tuesday that he would be “surprised” if Democrats voted to move forward on the bill given that they had only received the massive legislation hours before the vote.

“We’re not going to vote on a bill we haven’t seen. We’ll vote on it but not favorably,” Reid said. 

Lawmakers face a tight deadline to pass the highway bill, with federal infrastructure funding expected to run out at the end of the month. 

Boxer said that while she agreed with Reid that Democrats need a chance to read the bill, she said that “I would submit that this isn’t the first time we’ve done a highway bill.”