Washington (AFP)

Thanks to broad support from Democrats and Republicans, the $ 1.2 trillion infrastructure investment plan touted as "historic" by Joe Biden overcame a key milestone in the US Senate on Saturday, where its adoption now seems guaranteed before be sent to the House of Representatives.

The fruit of months of negotiations and a rare consensus between Republican and Democratic senators, this grand plan provides for $ 550 billion in new federal spending on roads, bridges, transport, but also on high-speed internet and for fight against climate change.

It totals $ 1.2 trillion - the equivalent of Spain's 2020 Gross Domestic Product - if we take into account the reorientation of other existing public funding.

With the agreement of 18 Republicans, including their powerful leader Mitch McConnell, and 49 Democrats, the Senate decided to end debate on the bill.

This procedural vote required 60 votes.

It marks a decisive step since it underlines the very strong chances that the text has to be adopted then, by a simple majority (51 votes), in the Senate.

But the text still has to go through a procedural step and there could be new votes on the amendments.

The final vote could therefore take place at the beginning of the week or occur as early as this weekend, the very flexible rules of the Senate making it possible to speed up the procedures ... on condition of obtaining unanimity.

The senators also negotiated bitterly Saturday in the hemicycle even on these next steps.

The deal "represents a historic investment," Joe Biden tweeted on Saturday.

"We cannot afford not to implement it."

The adoption of this project would offer a resounding victory for the Democratic President, who is betting on economic recovery and the fight against the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former Republican President Donald Trump judged him on Saturday that this agreement was "a shame".

"It will be very difficult for me to support someone stupid enough to vote in favor of this agreement," he threatened in a statement, while he remains very popular with Republican voters and the parliamentary elections of 2022 ("midterms") is approaching ..

The Brent Space Bridge, connecting the State of Ohio to Kentucky, April 2, 2021 Jeff Dean AFP / Archives

But Republicans supporting the project also know that these investments are very popular with voters and influential Mitch McConnell on Saturday defended an imperfect text but the result of a "compromise".

© 2021 AFP