In defiance of Trump, more than one-third of Senate GOP backs infrastructure bill

Former President Donald Trump's calls to thwart the centerpiece of President Joe Biden's agenda went unheeded by 19 Senate Republicans, who joined all 50 Democrats on Tuesday to pass a $550 billion infrastructure package.

The "yes" votes amounted to one of the more significant rebukes of Trump, who maintains a strong grip over the party's base and sought unsuccessfully to pass an infrastructure deal of his own while in office.

In recent weeks, Trump criticized Republicans for supporting the effort and threatened them with possible primary challengers. Though he did not make clear the specifics of what in the bill he disliked, he framed opposition to it in terms of limiting future Democratic legislation.

"It is a loser for the USA, a terrible deal, and makes the Republicans look weak, foolish, and dumb," he said in a statement last month. "It shouldn’t be done. It sets an easy glidepath for Dems to then get beyond what anyone thought was possible in future legislation. ... Don’t do it Republicans — Patriots will never forget! If this deal happens, lots of primaries will be coming your way!"

But the threats weren't enough to deter 40 percent of the Republican caucus.

He focused much of his ire on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He called the proposal "the beginning of the Green New Deal," before blaming McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, for an infrastructure package not advancing during his presidency.

Trump's White House repeatedly attempted to stage "infrastructure week," meant to focus the administration's message on the need for an infrastructure bill. But after Trump repeatedly derailed such efforts by blasting controversial tweets that absorbed the media's attention, "infrastructure week" became a running joke in Washington about his lack of message discipline.

That senators who broke with Trump included Sens. McConnell, of Kentucky; Roy Blunt, of Missouri; Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia; Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana; Susan Collins, of Maine; Deb Fischer, of Nebraska; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Chuck Grassley, of Iowa; Rob Portman, of Ohio; Mitt Romney, of Utah; Roger Wicker, of Mississippi; Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina; Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, of Idaho; and Kevin Cramer and John Hoven, of North Dakota.

Among the supporters were five senators who vote to convict Trump in his second impeachment and two others who are retiring rather than seeking re-election next fall.

Yet the group also consisted of senators who rarely were at odds with the former president and who hailed from states he won overwhelmingly last fall. Five of the GOP senators who backed the deal hail from states Trump carried in the last election by more than 30 points.

"There's a joke around town that infrastructure week has come and gone so many times that people are a little cynical when we talk about it," Portman, a lead negotiator and one of the retiring senators, said ahead of the vote. "Well today is infrastructure day — we're actually going to see what we've been talking about which is the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, saying you know what, it is time to fix our roads and bridges, we can do so in a responsible way, not by raising taxes on the American people, but by making important investments in long-term capital assets that will last for years."

At the same time, the package has been viewed skeptically by some progressive House Democrats who say the legislation does not go far enough. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the bill won't get a vote until the Senate passes a separate, larger package of safety net measures.