Portman: Republicans are ‘absolutely’ committed to bipartisan infrastructure bill

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Sunday said that the Republicans who helped craft the bipartisan infrastructure proposal unveiled earlier this month are still “absolutely committed” to it despite pushback from both sides of the aisle.

While appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Portman was asked by host Chuck Todd how committed the GOP members of the bipartisan group are to the infrastructure proposal, noting that progressive lawmakers have lambasted it for leaving out some of their key priorities.

“I think we’re absolutely committed to it, and I think there’s a number of others as well on both sides of the aisle. Last week, I heard from a lot of my colleagues saying, ‘I just need to look at one other issue. … Can you do this? Can you do that?’ But there’s a lot of interest in having a bipartisan proposal, and, Chuck, this is growing the vote from the middle out,” Portman said.

EXCLUSIVE: @SenRobPortman tells #MTP: The group of 11 Republicans pushing for a bipartisan infrastructure deal is “absolutely committed.”

Portman: “I think there is a number of others on both sides of the aisle. … There is a lot of interest in having a bipartisan proposal.” pic.twitter.com/CVOqWByats

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 20, 2021

Portman was one of 10 senators who announced a “compromise framework” that would dedicate $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending over eight years. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitt Romney (Utah) have all come out in support of the bill.

“You recall that at the end of last year we did the same thing with regard to a COVID-19 package, which helped to get that final package done at the end of the year after, really, almost a year of no activity on something that was really necessary. This is the same thing. Everybody wants to do infrastructure,” he added on Sunday.

–Updated on June 21 at 3:02 p.m.