当参议院下周返回华盛顿时，议员们将争分夺秒地在岌岌可危的政治环境中穿行，以便在夏季结束前推进乔·拜登总统的基础设施议程。

议员们只有四周的时间在基础设施方面采取重大行动，参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默承诺，将于7月份推出一个专注于核心基础设施项目的两党一揽子计划和第二个更大的快速预算法案，该法案旨在拜登的美国家庭计划中的其他优先事项。

由五名参议院民主党人和五名参议院共和党人组成的两党达成的1.2万亿美元协议的前景周二得到了两党众议院问题解决者核心小组的推动，该小组在一份声明中表示，该提案已获得批准。

“我很高兴党团支持我们的两党协议，即在不增加税收的情况下，在升级美国关键基础设施、创造就业机会和扩大全国经济机会方面进行历史性投资，”D-Ariz参议员Kyrsten Sinema说，他领导了参议院关于两党基础设施一揽子计划的谈判。

但至关重要的是，核心小组只支持独立的两党法案。该组织不支持将两党基础设施方案与一项更大的法案捆绑在一起，该法案将使用一种称为和解的快速预算程序通过，正如一些进步的民主党人所呼吁的那样。

“我们支持将这项得到白宫强烈支持的两党、两院制提案作为独立投票提交众议院，”问题解决者核心小组共同主席、共和党众议员布莱恩·菲茨帕特里克(Brian Fitzpatrick)说。，周二说。“让我们现在就这个方案进行表决——不附加任何条件。让我们根据法案本身的是非曲直来考虑它。”

目前还不清楚立法者是否有机会将两党一揽子计划与和解一揽子计划分开考虑。民主党领导人正在推行一种“双轨”方法，将同时推动两项立法。

在上月宣布两党协议后，拜登面临相当大的反弹，因为他表示，他只会“同时”考虑两党协议和更大的和解协议。总统不得不发布一份澄清来安抚共和党的诋毁者。

共和党人几乎要求两党法案独立出来，以赢得他们的支持，而进步的民主党人威胁要投票反对两党协议，除非他们确信更大的一揽子计划也会通过。

参议院休会期间，立法语言仍在幕后汇集。

白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)周二在新闻发布会上表示，白宫正在与国会工作人员接触，制定两党一揽子计划和将用于预算和解进程的立法。两个包装上都没有账单文本。

普萨基说:“国会需要做很多工作，我们预计在接下来的一周，国会将会有很多幕后的法案起草谈判讨论，漫长的夜晚，接下来几天的大量咖啡。“鉴于舒默领导人已经表示，他希望看到和解方案和基础设施法案在7月份进行讨论，就总统的优先事项而言，我们现在是在7月份。”

埃文·武奇/美联社

2021年7月6日，白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基在白宫新闻发布会上发言。

众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)周三重申，她仍致力于将两党一揽子计划与和解一揽子计划联系起来。这些承诺是否足以说服众议院和参议院的进步人士投票支持两党协议，还有待观察。众议院和参议院的进步人士不愿意在没有和解方案保证的情况下支持两党协议。

民主党人正在两院以最微弱的优势工作。在众议院，有微弱多数。在参议院，每一个民主党人，加上副总统卡玛拉•哈里斯打破僵局的投票，都需要通过一个和解方案，几乎肯定会面临参议院共和党人的一致反对。

参议院民主党核心小组的一致意见将证明其自身的挑战，尤其是在这样的时间限制下。预算协调是一个耗时的过程，民主党人最近在分配适当金额的问题上意见大相径庭。

预算主席伯尼·桑德斯。其委员会将领导和解进程，已经为第二个方案提出了高达6万亿美元的资金。但是温和的民主党人乔·曼钦说，他只会支持那些可以可信地支付的东西。

“我想确保我们为此付出代价。“我不想增加更多的债务，”曼钦在美国广播公司新闻节目《本周》中说曼钦说:“因此，如果这是1万亿美元、1.5万亿美元或2万亿美元，无论这是10年期的结果，那都是我会投的票。

J.斯科特·阿普尔怀特/美联社

参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔。，开始前做一个有线新闻采访...

共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)周二在一次新闻发布会上承认，如果所有民主党人都团结一致支持和解努力，他几乎无法阻止他们前进。

这使得这位共和党领袖依赖曼钦和其他温和的民主党人，他说这些人可能会觉得桑德斯提议的支出水平“令人不快”

麦康奈尔说，他仍然认为两党基础设施协议有前进的道路，但他承诺参议院共和党人将“很难”让民主党人在和解方案上取得进展。

“这不会在两党的基础上完成，”麦康奈尔在谈到更大的和解方案时说。“这将是一场关于这个国家未来应该是什么样子的激烈斗争，这一切都将在未来几周内在这里展开。”

Lawmakers face time crunch on infrastructure deals

When the Senate returns to Washington next week, lawmakers will be in a race against the clock to navigate a precarious political landscape in time to progress President Joe Biden's infrastructure agenda before the summer comes to a close.

There are only four weeks remaining for lawmakers to make major moves on infrastructure, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised that both a bipartisan package focused on core infrastructure items and a second, larger, fast-tracked budget bill aimed at other priorities in Biden's American Families Plan will be introduced in July.

Prospects for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan deal, forged by a group of five Senate Democrats and five Senate Republicans got a boost Tuesday from the bipartisan House Problem Solvers caucus, who gave the proposal it's seal of approval in a statement.

"I'm thrilled to have the Caucus’s support for our bipartisan agreement to make historic investments in upgrading America’s critical infrastructure, creating jobs and expanding economic opportunities across the country without raising taxes," said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who led Senate negotiations on the bipartisan infrastructure package.

But critically, the caucus only lent it support to the stand-alone bipartisan bill. The group did not endorse tying the bipartisan infrastructure package to a larger bill that would be passed using a fast-track budget procedure called reconciliation, as some progressive Democrats have called for.

"We support bringing this bipartisan, bicameral proposal, which is strongly supported by the White House, to the House floor as a stand-alone vote," Problem Solvers Caucus co-Chair Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said Tuesday. "Let us vote on this package now -- no strings attached. Let this bill be considered up-or-down on its own merits."

It is not yet clear whether lawmakers will have a chance to consider the bipartisan package separate from a reconciliation package. Democratic leaders are pursuing a "two-track" approach that would move both pieces of legislation at the same time.

Biden faced considerable backlash following the announcement of the bipartisan deal last month for saying he would only consider the bipartisan package "in tandem" with the larger reconciliation package. The president had to issue a clarification to soothe Republican detractors.

Republicans have all but demanded the bipartisan bill stand alone for it to earn their backing while progressive Democrats have threatened to vote against the bipartisan deal unless they're assured the larger package will also pass.

Legislative language is still coming together behind the scenes while the Senate is on recess.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Tuesday that the White House is in contact with congressional staff working on crafting both the bipartisan package and the legislation that would be used in a budget reconciliation process. No bill text on either package is yet available.

"There's a lot of work that needs to happen with Congress, and we expect over the next week there to be a lot of behind the scenes bill writing negotiations discussions on Capitol Hill, long nights, lots of coffee over the course of the next several days," Psaki said. "Given that Leader Schumer has conveyed that he would like to see both the reconciliation package and the infrastructure bill on the floor in July, and we're in July now in terms of the president's priorities."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reaffirmed on Wednesday that she is still committed to tying the bipartisan package to a reconciliation package. It remains to be seen if those commitments will be enough to coax progressives in both the House and Senate who are reluctant to support the bipartisan deal without assurances of a reconciliation package to vote in favor of the bipartisan deal.

Democrats are working with the narrowest of margins in both chambers. In the House, there is a slim majority. In the Senate, every single Democrat, plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, will be needed to pass a reconciliation package that will almost certainly face unanimous opposition from Senate Republicans.

Unanimity among the Senate Democratic Caucus is going to prove its own challenge, especially under such time constraints. Budget reconciliation is a time-consuming process, and Democrats as of late are on wildly different pages about the appropriate amount of money to allocate.

Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., whose committee will lead the reconciliation process, has proposed as much as $6 trillion for the second package. But moderate Democrat Joe Manchin said he will only support that which can be credibly paid for.

"I want to make sure we pay for it. I do not want to add more debt on," Manchin said on ABC News' "This Week." "So if that's $1 trillion or $1.5 trillion or $2 trillion, whatever that comes out to be over a 10-year period, that's what I would be voting for," Manchin said.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell conceded at a press event on Tuesday that if all Democrats are united behind a reconciliation effort, there's little he can do to prevent them from moving forward.

That leaves the Republican leader dependent on Manchin -- as well as other moderate Democrats -- who he said may find the spending levels Sanders is proposing "offensive."

McConnell said he still sees a path forward on the bipartisan infrastructure deal but promised that Senate Republicans are "going to make it hard" for Democrats to move forward on a reconciliation package.

"This is not going to be done on a bipartisan basis," McConnell said of the larger reconciliation package. "This is going to be a hell of a fight over what this country ought to look like in the future and that's all going to unfold here in the next few weeks."