Commerce secretary: We’re ‘very close’ to passing bipartisan infrastructure bill

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Sunday said that passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill is “very close.” 

“We’re in the final strokes. We’re in the final days. We’re optimistic. We are all engaging daily multiple times a day with members of the Senate, and we’re feeling really good about it,” Raimondo, who formerly served as governor of Rhode Island, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Host John Dickerson questioned how close the bill could be to passing, however, noting that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said that she will not send it to the House floor until another bill is passed through reconciliation in the Senate.

“This is complex, you know, this is unusual and complex, but it’s what Americans want, it’s what Americans deserve,” Raimondo replied. “I’ll tell you when I was governor, if I ever worked on an issue where I had both the Chamber of Commerce, and the local AFL CIO, saying they supported it and get it done. I knew it had to happen, because it was the right thing to do, and that’s what we have here.”

“I hear from business leaders every day, ‘Get this passed. We need everyone to have broadband, we need improvements in roads and bridges.’ You hear the same thing from labor and progressives so yes it’s complicated, no we’re not there yet, but it’s going to happen,” Raimondo added.