Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the Senate will take up the blocked highway bill once again on Wednesday, and that the chamber would be in session this weekend to work on the bill.

"We need to keep at it," McConnell, R-Ky., said moments after Democrats and some Republicans blocked a procedural vote to advance a six-year highway funding measure. "And that will most definitely require us to be here this weekend."

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Democrats balked at supporting the bill so quickly, saying the 1,000-plus page document was on the floor for a vote just an hour after the details were released. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will meet with his caucus at noon on Wednesday to discuss it.

"We need the opportunity to look at this bill," Reid said. "This is a big, big bill with a lot of different sections, with a lot of different issues. We are not asking for anything unusual."

McConnell said Reid made "a good argument," but warned against passing a short-term extension, as the House and Senate have done continually in the past decade to fund highway projects.

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Reid challenged McConnell's assertion that if the Senate passes the measure, the House will take it up before it adjourns on July 31 for the August recess.

"I don't think there is a chance in the world they are going to take up this bill," Reid said.

Earlier Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said he wants the Senate to take up a five-month extension the House passed earlier this month.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who co-authored the the legislation with McConnell, voted against proceeding to the bill but said much of the legislation tracks older legislation.

"If we can just keep our eye on the prize, which is businesses being able to do what they want to do, build," Boxer said. "I hope tomorrow we'll be able to join with our friends and vote to proceed. I'd love to get on this bill and get moving on it and seeing if we can keep this economy moving in the right direction."

Boxer said if the Senate can pass the legislation with strong bipartisan support, it will create "huge momentum" for the measure to pass in the House.