Newsman: The US congress passed a more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill late Friday, sent it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature. Democratic leaders managed to unify House progressives and moderates to hold a vote on the Senate-passed bill, not all members of the party ultimately supported it. Six House Democrats who broke from their party to vote against the bill but thirteen Republicans in the House voted with Democrats to approve the bill. The legislation would put $550 billion in new funding into transportation, broadband and utilities.
In a statement after the House vote, Biden said the legislation would “create millions of jobs, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, and put us on a path to win the economic competition for the 21st Century.” He also noted that the procedural vote on the second Democratic bill will “allow for passage of my Build Back Better Act in the House of Representatives the week of November 15th.”
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would put $550 billion in new money into transportation projects, the utility grid and broadband. The package includes $110 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects, along with $66 billion for passenger and freight rail and $39 billion for public transit.
It would put $65 billion into broadband, a priority for many lawmakers after the coronavirus pandemic highlighted inequities in internet access for households and students across the country. The legislation would also invest $55 billion into water systems, including efforts to replace lead pipes.
House on Friday voted 228-206 to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill after hours of delays and debating among Democrats. It is a critical step toward enacting sprawling Democratic economic plans.The bill passed after a last-minute scramble to reach a consensus between progressive and centrists on how to pass the infrastructure package and a larger Democratic social spending plan.
Many Democrats considered the infrastructure bill inadequate because it did not address issues including child care, pre-K education, Medicare expansion and the enhanced child tax credit. Those policies, priorities for Biden and top Democrats, made it into the House version of the social safety net bill.
President Biden and Democrats have looked for a signature achievement they can point to on the 2022 midterm campaign trail as the president’s approval ratings flag.
Democratic leaders tied the proposals together in an effort to keep centrists and progressives on board with both plans.
Republicans helped to write the bill in the Senate, and it garnered 19 GOP votes in the chamber. A range of congressional Republicans opposed the plan because they considered it too closely tied to Democrats’ larger proposal, which they are passing without Republicans through the budget reconciliation process.
The Senate approved the revamp of transportation, utilities and broadband in August. The legislation’s passage is perhaps the unified Democratic government’s most concrete achievement since it approved a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package in the spring.
Democrats entered the day planning to pass both the infrastructure legislation and the party’s larger $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate package. A demand from a handful of centrists to see a Congressional Budget Office estimate of the social spending plan’s budgetary effects delayed its approval. Progressives sought assurances the holdouts would support the bigger proposal if they voted for the infrastructure bill.
After hours of talks — and a Biden call into a progressive caucus meeting urging lawmakers to back the infrastructure bill — the party’s liberal wing got assurances from centrists that they would support the larger package. The social and climate plan then cleared a key procedural hurdle early Saturday morning,
he bills together make up the core of Biden’s domestic agenda. Democrats see the plans as complementary pieces designed to boost the economy, jolt the job market, provide a layer of insurance to working families and curb climate change.
The House will have to wait for a CBO score. The Senate may pass a different version of the plan, which would require another House vote. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has set a Thanksgiving target to pass the larger Democratic bill.
A number of progressives — who have consistently called for both the infrastructure and the separate economic package, known as the Build Back Better Act, to move together — voted “no” on the legislation. They are Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York,Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri,Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York,Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota,Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts,Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
The thirteen republicans voted in support to the bill are Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska,Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania,Rep. Andrew Gabarino of New York,Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio,Rep. John Katko of New York,Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois,Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York,Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia,Rep. Tom Reed of New York,Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey,Fred Upton of Michigan,Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey,Rep. Don Young of Alaska
