Cassidy says he expects McConnell will support bipartisan deal

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Sunday said that he expects Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to support the bipartisan infrastructure deal that Cassidy helped craft with other senators from both parties.

“If we can pull this off, I think Mitch will favor it,” Cassidy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” 

Cassidy said that McConnell, among other Republican senators, were upset initially when President Biden had said on Thursday that he would not pass a bipartisan infrastructure deal unless a reconciliation bill was also passed in tandem. 

“Now, he didn’t like the president, throwing the wrench in there, saying, listen, the two are tied together. That’s not what we were told, and so of course that caused a little bit of a, ‘Hmm, let’s think about this,’” Cassidy said.

Biden walked back those comments on Saturday, saying he would sign the bipartisan deal if it came to his desk, and that he did not intend to imply that he would not. 

“But I think Mitch McConnell wants infrastructure as much as anyone else. He wants the jobs that this will create. I think Leader McConnell will be for it, if it continues to come together as it is,” Cassidy continued. 

The deal under discussion would invest $1.2 trillion in the nation’s infrastructures over eight years. It would allocate $579 billion in new spending, including $312 billion for transportation programs and $266 billion on other things like broadband and water infrastructure.