Bipartisan infrastructure bill on glide path to passage after vote to end debate

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., refused to relent on the mandatory debate time

The Senate voted on Sunday to end the debate on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill after 18 Republicans voted in favor to break the filibuster, which puts the bill on a glide path to passage within the next few days. 

Chad Pergram, the Fox News congressional correspondent, tweeted that if all the available time is used under the rule, "the final passage may not come until very early Tuesday morning at the latest. But an agreement among all 100 senators could expedite the process and trigger a final vote much sooner."

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Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., refused to relent on the mandatory debate time.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stressed to colleagues that they could proceed the "easy way or the hard way," as the Senate slogged through its second consecutive weekend session.

"We’ll keep proceeding until we get this bill done," Schumer said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended the bill on "Fox News Sunday," despite the bill including an estimated $351 billion in deficit spending.

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"The pay-fors that are in this bill are appropriate for a bill that's going to grow the economy and grow U.S. productivity," he said. "You don't see the number of conservative Republicans supporting this bill that you do unless it's fiscally responsible."

Former President Trump called the infrastructure bill the "beginning of the Green New Deal," in a statement released from his office late Sunday.

"This will be a big victory for the Democrats and will be used against Republicans in the upcoming elections," he said. He concluded, "Hopefully the House will be much stronger than the Senate."

Fox News' Ronn Blitzer and the Associated Press contributed to this report