Biden on bipartisan infrastructure deal: ‘I think it’s going to get done’

President Biden on Wednesday expressed certainty a bipartisan infrastructure deal will get done, starting with a vote to move forward on debate on Monday.

“I think it’s going to get done,” Biden said at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati. “You may find amendments that take place on the detail of whether or not — and I’m the guy who wrote this bill to begin with. And so I’ve had to compromise to make changes in the bill.”

Republicans earlier Wednesday blocked the Senate from debating a bipartisan infrastructure proposal, but negotiators involved with the framework say they are near finalizing an agreement.

GOP senators took issue with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) bringing up the procedural vote before the text of the infrastructure bill was written.

Biden brushed off the failed vote, telling CNN’s Don Lemon he believes it will pass when it’s brought up again Monday.

“What happens is the vote on Monday is a motion to be able to proceed to this issue. Then they’re going to debate this issue of the individual elements of this plan, to make sure we can fix this damn bridge of yours going into Kentucky,” Biden said to applause from the crowd.

Biden expressed confidence that enough Republicans will back the deal, pointing to the roughly dozen senators who wrote to him asking for more time to finalize the deal. The president praised Ohio Sen. Rob Portman (R), who is at the center of negotiations, as an “honorable man.”

A bipartisan group of roughly 20 senators has been holding nearly daily meetings to try to finalize the infrastructure agreement amid a rolling struggle over how to pay for the deal. While the agreement costs $1.2 trillion over eight years, it only includes $579 billion in new spending.

The group had initially set an end-of-the-week deadline last week to finalize its remaining issues, and Schumer announced Thursday that he was going to force a vote Wednesday to try to start a formal debate after weeks of waiting for the bipartisan group to finalize its agreement. 

The White House had backed Schumer’s plan, arguing senators had been given enough time to come to an agreement.