President Biden and other members of the White House on Saturday took a victory lap following passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, quipping that “infrastructure week” has finally arrived in Washington.
“Finally, infrastructure week!” Biden said to open his remarks at the White House on Saturday touting passage of the bill. “I’m happy to say that: infrastructure week.”
The House late Friday passed the bill by a vote of 218-203. Lawmakers sent the legislation to Biden’s desk after a weeks-long standoff over Democrats’ larger $1.75 trillion social spending package, which progressives demanded be passed in tandem with the bipartisan bill.
The lower chamber on Friday night advanced a rule that establishes debate parameters for the bigger package, but the chamber is not expected to vote on it until later this month.
“So does this mean it’s finally infrastructure week?” ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl tweeted after the House joined the Senate in passing the bipartisan bill.
“You better believe it,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield replied, with other White House officials also touting “infrastructure week.”
“Infrastructure week” has been a fixture in the political lexicon for several years, with the running joke going back to the previous administration, when then-President Trump held a week of events in 2017 aimed at ramping up support for a trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal.
The week was overshadowed in part because of high-profile testimony on Capitol Hill from former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump had fired.
Some on Twitter took jabs at the former president for essentially creating the joke, with White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates calling it “yet another inherited failure reversed.”
Others on Twitter got in on the running joke as well.
“After 4.5 years…infrastructure week is finally over – quite an achievement,” MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle tweeted.
“After a long night, I’m proud to have voted YES for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, an investment that will change the everyday lives of all Pennsylvanians,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) tweeted. “So, can I finally say it? It’s infrastructure week.”