A day after the U.S. Senate approved the bipartisan infrastructure bill he championed, President Joe Biden met with dozens of state, local and tribal leaders virtually Wednesday to build support for the measure as she walks towards the Chamber.

The meeting felt like a victory lap, with state, local and tribal leaders from both sides telling Biden how big the $ 1.2 trillion bill would be at home – and also highlighted support from at beyond the ring road for a measure that would repair ruined roads and bridges and Continued.

But measuring infrastructure is far from the finish line, with the next challenge balancing it with a $ 3.5 trillion spending plan favored by House progressives.

The White House said the meeting included 1,500 officials. The top five state and local government advocacy groups have all endorsed the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who campaigned in 2018 on pledging to “fix the bloody roads,” told Biden the federal package would be a godsend for that effort, while also helping the auto industry. ‘State to move to “an electric future” and to repair. drinking water infrastructure.

Liz Hausmann, Republican Commissioner for Fulton County, Georgia, said the bill would help fund the transit expansion that the rapidly growing region around Atlanta needs but lacks the funds necessary to build itself.

The bill “provides mobility options for our community, and the transit provisions ensure connectivity, jobs and sustainability for the growth we know is coming,” she said.

“We cannot do this without the support and partnership of our state and federal government, and this bipartisan infrastructure package will do just that. “

But the bill’s final passage is probably weeks, if not months, away.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged not to pass the infrastructure package in the Democratic-controlled House until the Senate adopts a broader spending plan focused on the Democratic-controlled efforts. education, health and climate through a separate process known as reconciliation.

The bill’s main sponsor, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Compared the $ 3.5 trillion package to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

A majority of the 95 House Members of the Progressive Congressional Caucus promised Tuesday not to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill until a “robust” spending program has been approved in the Senate.

Adopting this plan has its own challenges.

A group of nine moderate Democrats in the House, including Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Susie Lee of Nevada and Jared Golden of Maine, told Pelosi they had reservations about the price of the measure. Democrats have a slim eight-seat majority in the chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday his caucus would be united in support of the eventual spending plan, which he said would be ready by Sept. 15, two days after the return of senators from their summer vacation.

Senate Democrats can pass the measure, even with all opposing Republicans, but they cannot lose any members, which means the package must appease all members, from progressives like Sanders to Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key moderate vote.