After Infrastructure Deal, Senate Votes to Take Up Bill Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and other senators speak to reporters just after a vote to start work on a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package July 28. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press) WASHINGTON — The Senate voted the night of July 28 to begin work on a nearly $1 trillion national infrastructure plan, acting with sudden speed after weeks of fits and starts once the White House and a bipartisan group of senators agreed on major provisions of the package that’s key to President Joe Biden’s agenda. Biden welcomed the accord as one that would show America can “do big things.” It includes the most significant long-term investments in nearly a century, he said, on par with building the transcontinental railroad or the Interstate highway system.