A Look at What Happened in the Bilateral Infrastructure Agreement


After weeks of debate and debate, the White House and a bipartisan group of senators said on Wednesday. agreed upon on an infrastructure bill.

The $1 trillion package is much smaller than the $2.3 trillion plan proposed by President Biden. originally offered It will provide approximately $550 billion in new federal money for public transportation, roads, bridges, water and other physical projects over the next five years, according to a White House fact sheet. That money will be combined with a number of measures, including “reusing” stimulus funds already approved by Congress, selling off public spectrum and reimbursing federal unemployment funds. ending states more generous pandemic benefits early.

While Mr Biden acknowledged that “both sides didn’t get everything they wanted”, he said the deal would create new union jobs and make significant investments in public transport.

“This deal signals to the world that our democracy can work, deliver and do great things,” Biden said in a statement. “As we have done on the transcontinental rail and the interstate highway, we will transform America once again and propel us into the future.”

Lawmakers have yet to release the bill’s legislative text, and although the Senate voted Wednesday evening to advance the bill in the first ballot, it still faces a few hurdles. But if the law does pass, the package will be an important step towards repairing the country’s crumbling infrastructure and preparing it for the 21st century.

Here’s a look at the bipartisan group’s deal for the final package.

The package provides $110 billion in new funding for roads, bridges and other major projects. The funds will be used for repairs and rebuilding “with a focus on climate change mitigation,” according to the White House.

This funding would only begin to eliminate some of the country’s immediate infrastructure needs, transportation. experts say. The most recent estimate by the American Society of Civil Engineers found that the nation’s roads and bridges have $786 billion in accumulated repair needs.

Highway and pedestrian safety programs will receive $11 billion under the deal. traffic deaths, Increased during the pandemictook a certain toll on people of color, according to one final analysis From the Governors Highway Safety Association. Traffic deaths among blacks increased by 23 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year, According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. By comparison, traffic deaths among white people rose 4 percent over the same period.

The deal also includes funds devoted to “reconnecting communities” by removing highways or other past infrastructure projects. Passing through black neighborhoods and other color ensembles. Although Mr. Biden initially offered to invest $20 billion in the new program, the final deal only includes $1 billion.

Public buses, subways and trains will receive $39 billion in new funding, which will be used to repair aging infrastructure and modernize and expand public transport services across the country.

While the amount of new funding for public transit scales back from the June proposal, which includes $49 billion, the Biden administration said it will be the largest federal investment in public transport in history.

But the funds may not be enough to fully modernize the country’s public transport system. According to this report There is a $176 billion savings for transit investments from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The deal will inject $66 billion into the railroad to address Amtrak’s maintenance backlog, as well as upgrade the high-traffic Northeast corridor from Washington to Boston (a route frequented by East Coast lawmakers). It will also expand rail service beyond the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Mr Biden is often Connection with AmtrakIt began in the 1970s when he traveled home every night from Washington to Delaware to care for his two sons while serving in the Senate. According to management, the new funding will be the largest investment in passenger rail since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago and will come once the agency makes significant efforts. Expand its service nationwide by 2035.

The package will invest $55 billion in clean drinking water, enough to replace all of the nation’s lead pipes and service lines. When Congress outlawed lead water pipes thirty years ago, More than 10 million oldresults in unsafe lead levels in cities and towns across the country.

To address the effects of climate change, the agreement will invest $7.5 billion to build a network of electric vehicle charging stations in the country, which could persuade more drivers to switch from electric cars to such cars. so-called charging deserts. The package will also expand America’s fleet of electric school buses by investing $2.5 billion. zero emission buses.

How to pay for expenses has been one of the most controversial areas, and Republicans opposed Mr Biden’s plan to raise taxes and strengthen the IRS to help pay for the package. Instead, the bipartisan group has agreed on a set of so-called payments that largely reuse already approved funds, rely on accounting changes to raise funds, and in some cases assume that projects will eventually pay for themselves.

The biggest source of funding is $205 billion, which the group says will come from “the reuse of certain Covid relief dollars.” The government has approved trillions of dollars in pandemic stimulus funds, and most, if not all, have been allocated. The proposal doesn’t specify what money will be reused, but Republicans have warned the Treasury get the funds back Of the $350 billion Democrats approved in March to help states, local governments and tribes cope with the costs associated with the epidemic.

It is estimated that another $53 billion will come. ending states Get more generous federal unemployment benefits early and return that money to the Department of the Treasury. An additional $28 billion is pegged to require more robust reporting on cryptocurrencies, and $56 billion is estimated to come from economic growth “resulting from a 33 percent return on investment in these long-term infrastructure projects.”



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