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Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
Washington (Associated Press)-President Joe Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure plan into law on Monday to provide funds for roads, bridges, ports, rail transit, safe water, power grids, broadband Internet, and more.
The plan is expected to cover almost every corner of the country. The President compared it with the construction of a transcontinental railroad and interstate highway system, which is a historic investment. The White House predicts that these investments will add an average of about 2 million jobs per year over the next ten years.
Watch: Historic investments in new infrastructure laws and how they affect inflation
The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 228 to 206 on November 5, ending several weeks of intra-party negotiations in which the Liberal Democrats insisted on linking the legislation to a larger social expenditure bill. To put pressure on the more moderate Democrats to support both.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 69 to 30 in August after rare bipartisan negotiations, and the House of Representatives maintained this compromise. Thirteen Republicans in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill, providing Democrats with enough votes to overcome the betrayal of a small number of progressives.
Breakdown of the bill that became law on Monday:
The bill will provide 110 billion U.S. dollars to repair the country's aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, the total length of highways and major roads in the United States is 173,000 miles or nearly 280,000 kilometers, and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. According to the Biden administration, the bridge investment of nearly US$40 billion is the largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the national highway system.
The $39 billion spent on public transportation in the legislation will expand the transportation system, improve the accessibility of people with disabilities, and provide state and local governments with funds to purchase zero-emission and low-emission buses. The Department of Transportation estimates that the current backlog of repairs exceeds 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars, 200 stations, and thousands of miles of track and power systems.
In order to reduce Amtrak's maintenance backlog (which has deteriorated since Superstorm Sandy 9 years ago), the bill will provide $66 billion to improve rail services in the Northeast Corridor (457 miles, 735 kilometers) and other routes. This is less than the $80 billion Biden originally sought - he was known for taking Amtrak from Delaware to Washington during his tenure in the Senate - but it will be the federal passenger rail service since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago. The biggest investment.
The bill will spend 7.5 billion U.S. dollars on electric vehicle charging stations, which the government says is essential for accelerating the use of electric vehicles to curb climate change. It will also provide $5 billion for the purchase of electric school buses and hybrid vehicles to reduce reliance on diesel-fueled school buses.
The legislation allocates US$65 billion for broadband access and aims to improve Internet services in rural areas, low-income families, and tribal communities. Most of the funds will be provided to the states through grants.
To prevent power outages that have become more frequent in recent years, the bill will spend $65 billion to improve the reliability and resilience of the grid. It will also promote carbon capture technology and more environmentally friendly sources of electricity, such as clean hydrogen.
The bill will spend 25 billion U.S. dollars to improve the airport’s runways, gates and taxiways, and improve the terminal building. It will also improve the aging air traffic control tower.
The legislation will spend 55 billion U.S. dollars on water supply and sewage treatment infrastructure. It has 15 billion U.S. dollars to replace lead pipes, and 10 billion U.S. dollars to solve the water pollution of polyfluoroalkyl substances-chemicals used in the production of polytetrafluoroethylene, also used in fire fighting foam, waterproof clothing and Many other items.
The five-year spending plan will be paid for by using $210 billion in COVID-19 relief assistance and $53 billion in unemployment insurance assistance that some states have stopped, as well as a series of smaller funds, such as oil reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G service.
Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe, Kevin Freking, and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Left: On November 15, 2021, US President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Employment Act on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, USA. Photography: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Authors: Josh Boak, Colleen Long, Associated Press
Authors: Will Weissert, Heather Hollingsworth, Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press
Authors: Josh Boak, Colleen Long, Associated Press
Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
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