Source: Reuters
President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that will put $1 trillion into infrastructure projects to rehabilitate various roads, bridges, rails, water facilities, and other projects while providing union jobs to American citizens.
“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a once-in-a-generation investment in our Nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness,” reads the bill, which is now officially a law after the US president signed it during a White House ceremony last Monday. The great effort aims to do more than improve infrastructure to US soil. It also looks to provide jobs across the country by dispersing budgets to state and local governments to fix bridges and roads. There will also be an effort to expand broadband internet access to Americans that don’t have direct access to internet lines today.
An estimated $1 trillion will go into these large and long-term projects. Biden says that the passage of this bill is a great way to show that “despite the cynics, Democrats and Republicans can come together and deliver results.” “Too often in Washington, the reason we don’t get things done is because we insist on getting everything we want. With this law, we focused on getting things done,” Biden explained during his speech during the ceremony.
The signing ceremony happened on the White House South Lawn amidst the chilly weather with many witnesses and participants. Members of the Democratic and Republican parties were present in what was the beginning of what some have considered one of the most significant bipartisan projects in the last few decades.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will include a $550 billion budget for physical infrastructure, representing the most significant investment in roads and highways in the last several years. More specifically, $110 billion will go to roads, bridges, and other adjacent projects, $39 billion to public transit, $66 to railways, and $65 billion for broadband internet infrastructure. Another $55 billion will also go to efforts to provide clean water.
The infrastructure project came under a lot of pressure in the House after many backs and forth between members of Congress. Ultimately, the bill would get passed in a 228-206 vote. Thirteen Republicans would cross party lines to vote alongside the far majority of Democrats. All thirteen conservative public servants drew much criticism from the members of their party for supporting the bill, including from former President Donald Trump.
President Biden has also announced that he will be appointing former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to supervise the execution of the $1 trillion infrastructure law. The basis for the decision has been the former mayor’s successful efforts to rebuild roads, bridges, and ports after the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Landrieu will serve as a senior adviser and will take account of the coordination of the new law. He will be working through the National Economic Council shared with the White House in a formal statement.
Part of the original plan that Biden drew up for infrastructure investments was an additional $555 billion for clean energy investments. This inclusion is part of his goal to reduce carbon emissions by the United States by 50% in the next fifty years. In addition, part of the fund set for the project is a recycled $200 billion initially meant for COVID-19 efforts but has since gone unused.
