President Joe Biden celebrated the Senate's passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure package on Tuesday, a move that brings him one step closer to achieving a major part of his domestic agenda.
Biden hailed the bipartisan nature of the bill and thanked the group of Republican and Democratic senators who led the legislation's negotiations for the past two months.
"This bill shows that we can work together. I know a lot of people, some sitting in the audience here, who didn't think this could happen," Biden said in a speech on Tuesday, hours after the bill's passage. "From the time I announced my candidacy about bringing the country together and doing things in a bipartisan way, it was characterized as a relic of an earlier age. As you may well remember, I never believed that. I still don't."
"Today, we proved that democracy can still work," he added.
Vice President Kamala Harris also extended her gratitude to the senators for finalizing the bill. She presided over its passage in the upper chamber earlier Tuesday, marking the legislative achievement after it faced many hurdles.
All 50 Senate Democrats and 19 Senate Republicans voted in favor of the bill, which includes billions in funding for roads, bridges, public transit, access to broadband, and other improvements.
"After years and years of infrastructure week, we're on the cusp of an infrastructure decade, that I truly believe will transform America," Biden said.
Biden added that these "historic" and "unprecedented" investments would boost the economy, describing it as a "long-term boom."
"This is a plan that invests in the American people, in their future and their success," he said.
He went on to tout certain parts of the bill, highlighting the fact that 90% of jobs it creates will not require a college degree.
"You're tired of me saying that, I know, but this is a blue collar blueprint to rebuild America," he said.
The bill now heads to the House for approval and then to Biden's desk to sign into law.
