Lawmakers unveiled the latest details of the bipartisan infrastructure deal.
As The Daily Wire reported on Wednesday afternoon, Republican and Democratic members of the Senate revealed that they had addressed final kinks in their infrastructure proposal — an alternative to President Biden’s $2.7 trillion American Jobs Plan. The roughly $1 trillion compromise package cut spending on healthcare, education, and other items unrelated to physical infrastructure from the American Jobs Plan, drawing frustration from progressive officials.
On Wednesday afternoon, President Biden voiced his support for the lawmakers’ package:
This deal makes key investments to put people to work all across the country — in cities, small towns, rural communities, and across our coastlines and plains.
It will put Americans to work in good-paying, union jobs repairing our roads and bridges. It will put plumbers and pipefitters to work replacing all of the nation’s lead water pipes so every child and every American can turn on the faucet at home or school and drink clean water — including in low-income communities and communities of color that have been disproportionally affected by dangerous lead pipes.
And, we’re going to do it without raising taxes by one cent on people making less than $400,000 a year — no gas tax increase and no fee on electric vehicles.
According to a White House fact sheet, the bill contains $550 billion in new federal spending — including “the largest federal investment in public transit ever” and “the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak.”
The following are key portions of the bill:
- Roads and bridges ($110 billion): “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will invest $110 billion of new funds for roads, bridges, and major projects, and reauthorize the surface transportation program for the next five years building on bipartisan surface transportation reauthorization bills passed out of committee earlier this year. This investment will repair and rebuild our roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.”
- Power infrastructure ($73 billion): “The deal’s $73 billion investment is the single largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history. It upgrades our power infrastructure, including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy.”
- Passenger and freight rail ($66 billion): “This is the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago. The deal invests $66 billion in rail to eliminate the Amtrak maintenance backlog, modernize the Northeast Corridor, and bring world-class rail service to areas outside the northeast and mid-Atlantic.”
- High-speed internet ($65 billion): “The deal’s $65 billion investment ensures every American has access to reliable high-speed internet with an historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment, just as the federal government made a historic effort to provide electricity to every American nearly one hundred years ago.”
- Water infrastructure ($50 billion): “The deal makes our communities safer and our infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber attacks, with an investment of over $50 billion. This includes funds to protect against droughts and floods, in addition to a major investment in weatherization.”
- Public transit ($39 billion): “The deal invests $39 billion of new investment to modernize transit, and improve accessibility for the elderly and people with disabilities, in addition to continuing the existing transit programs for five years as part of surface transportation reauthorization.”
- Airports and waterways ($42 billion): “The bill invests $17 billion in port infrastructure and $25 billion in airports to address repair and maintenance backlogs, reduce congestion and emissions near ports and airports, and drive electrification and other low-carbon technologies. Modern, resilient, and sustainable port, airport, and freight infrastructure will support U.S. competitiveness by removing bottlenecks and expediting commerce and reduce the environmental impact on neighboring communities.”
The Senate may begin debate on the legislation as soon as Wednesday night.