Defiant Chuck Schumer says he has 'every intention' of passing the infrastructure bill by August after Republicans blocked his first bid to get it to the floor 

• Schumer said he aims to pass both parts of Biden's infrastructure agenda
• A procedural vote on the smaller of the two packages, a bipartisan $1.2trillion deal, failed in the Senate on Wednesday with no Republican support
• The Democrat leader vowed to pass the larger $3.5trillion bill with 'reconciliation instructions,' which would allow it to pass on a 51-50 party line vote
• Schumer cited a report by the late John McCain's former economic adviser
• He said both pieces of legislation would pass by Senate's end of summer recess 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a strong message to his Republican colleagues by defiantly telling them he still has 'every intention' of passing ambitious infrastructure legislation totaling nearly $5trillion by the end of summer.

The Democrat's remarks on the Senate floor Thursday come a day after Republicans struck down the smaller of two spending packages in a procedural vote on Wednesday.

'As majority leader I have every intention of passing both major infrastructure packages - the bipartisan infrastructure framework and a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions - before we leave for the August recess," Schumer said.

'The Senate is going to keep working on both tracks of infrastructure in order to achieve them.'

The Wednesday vote was a setback to Democrats pushing President Joe Biden's ambitious legislative agenda.   

The final vote was 49 for it and 51 against. Not a single Republican voted for the $1.2trillion package, including any of the senators who are working with Democrats to come to an agreement on a bipartisan bill.

Many of the Republican negotiators expressed concern over voting for a spending package they haven't yet seen.

Schumer, who switched his vote to a no at the end, said he did it so he could 'move to reconsider the vote at a future time.'

Democrats needed 10 Republican votes to reach the 60 senator supermajority to advance the legislation.

The second spending package, which has no Republican support, is Biden's $3.5trillion 'human' infrastructure package of social programs, including free pre-K and community college, expanded paid family and medical leave, environmental programs and immigration reform. 

Passing the second bill through a process called budget reconciliation would mean Democrats only need a simple majority - which they currently hold in the Senate - for it to pass.

Schumer said both bills are 'essential to maximize our economic potential,' citing a report by economist Mark Zandi, who served as an adviser to Republican Senator John McCain.

'And together, they would give a massive boost to the economy, ease inflation pressures, create jobs, increase productivity and reduce income inequality,' the Democratic leader said. 'These are incredibly worthy goals.'

The bipartisan group working on the smaller bill said they expect to finish their work by Monday. Schumer could bring the legislation up again next week. He has said he wants it finished by the time the Senate leaves on its August recess.

On Thursday Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell accused Schumer of 'playing games' by scheduling the vote.

‘Today that Democratic leader appears to be and count on calling a vote he knows will fail,' McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor. 'It will fail. Around here we typically write the bills before we vote on them. That is the custom.’

Republicans have complained they will not vote for a bill before it is written. The bipartisan group negotiating the measure - which funds traditional infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and water ways - is finalizing the details of the legislation and how it will be paid for.

'This stunt is set to fail,' McConnell said, asking 'so who's playing games.'

Democrats appeared to face another blow to their attempts to skirt Republican opposition when Biden came out against abolishing the filibuster at a CNN town hall in Ohio Wednesday night. 

He warned that doing so would 'throw the entire Congress into chaos' where 'nothing at all would get done.'   

Biden conceded that the 'abuse' of the filibuster was 'overwhelming,' but instead of ending it, he suggested bringing back the rigorous standards for conducting a filibuster that were common when he was first elected nearly 50 years ago.

'If you were to filibuster, you had to stand on the floor and hold the floor,' Biden said. 'There were significantly fewer filibusters in those days - in the middle of the Civil Rights movement.'  

Biden suggested the Senate shift its focus to passing bipartisan voting rights legislation along with Republicans who 'know better than this.'

'What I don't want to do, is get wrapped up right now in the argument over whether or not this is all about the filibuster,' he said.