Here's what's included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill
Senators announced the long-awaited text of a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package Sunday night over a month after President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators first announced such a deal.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act focuses on investments in roads, railways, bridges and broadband internet, but it does not include investments that Biden has referred to as "human infrastructure," including money allocated for child care and tax credits for families. Democrats are looking to address those priorities separately.
The package calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years.
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said the final product, just over 2,700 pages long, will be "great for the American people."
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate will consider amendments this week and a final vote could be held "in a matter of days."
"It's been decades since Congress passed such a significant standalone investment," the New York Democrat said, "and I salute the hard work done that was here by everybody."
Here's a look at what's included in the agreement:
Transportation
Roads, bridges, major projects: $110 billion
Passenger and freight rail: $66 billion
Public transit: $39 billion
Airports: $25 billion
Port infrastructure: $17 billion
Transportation safety programs: $11 billion
Electric vehicles: $7.5 billion
Zero and low-emission buses and ferries: $7.5 billion
Reconnect communities: $1 billion
Other infrastructure
Broadband: $65 billion
Power infrastructure: $73 billion
Clean drinking water: $55 billion
Resilience and Western water storage: $50 billion
Environmental remediation: $21 billion
How would they pay for it?
According to a recent fact sheet from the White House released a few days before the final legislation was unveiled, the package will be financed through a combination of funds, including repurposing unspent emergency relief funds from the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthening tax enforcement for cryptocurrencies.
Goals of the plan
Back in June, the White House shared a fact sheet with the aims of the package:
Improve healthy, sustainable transportation options for millions of Americans by modernizing and expanding transit and rail networks across the country while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Repair and rebuild roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
Build a national network of electric vehicle chargers along highways and in rural and disadvantaged communities.
Electrify thousands of school and transit buses across the country to reduce harmful emissions and drive domestic manufacturing of zero emission vehicles and components.
Eliminate the nation's lead service lines and pipes, delivering clean drinking water to up to 10 million American families and more than 400,000 schools and child care facilities that currently don't have it, including in tribal nations and disadvantaged communities.
Connect every American to reliable high-speed internet.
Upgrade the power infrastructure, including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy, including through a new grid authority.
Create a first-of-its-kind Infrastructure Financing Authority that will leverage billions of dollars into clean transportation and clean energy.
Make the largest investment in addressing legacy pollution in American history.
Prepare more infrastructure for impacts of climate change, cyberattacks and extreme weather events.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.