On Friday, President Joe Biden highlighted his newly signed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill although the fact that other elements of his legislative agenda have lately been delayed.
On Friday, President Joe Biden highlighted his newly signed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill although the fact that other elements of his legislative agenda have lately been delayed.
The $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
Biden described a government-wide effort over the past two months to get funds flowing to help repair bridges and highways as well as expand broadband access. The President emphasized the bill’s bipartisan nature, saying it will help create jobs, make communities safer, and help lower costs for Americans over time.
Transportation Department a new bridge investment program that, with funding from the infrastructure bill, will provide more than $27 billion to states and tribes over the next five years to repair and replace bridges. The administration is allocating $5.3 billion for the current fiscal year for states and tribes to repair bridges as soon as they can get projects of their choosing up and running.
The president also cited the efforts to distribute funding to modernize highways, improve ports, modernize airports and expand the internet, as well as plans to repair and change the lead pipes and cover abandoned wells.
Biden’s Other Agenda
Biden’s speech came at the end of a difficult week for him. The president’s push for action in the Senate to attempt to change the legislative filibuster in order pass voting rights legislation has so far failed, as he’s been unable to convince moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) to join him.
New data also showed inflation hits last year nearly 40-year high, and Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for private employers was halted by the Supreme Court on Thursday. In Biden’s first year he achieved several legislative successes, including the infrastructure plan and a $1.9 trillion coronavirus treatment measure. The Senate put another major piece of his domestic legislative agenda a $2 trillion climate and social policy bill, on hold.
Friday gave Biden a new opportunity to educate the public on the impact of the infrastructure bill. Biden has also traveled across the nation to promote the bill, with his most recent trip to Georgia on Tuesday focusing on voting rights legislation. On Friday, Biden was joined by Mitch Landrieu, the White House infrastructure coordinator, who said that enforcing the bill “won’t be easy” but ensure the funds are used appropriately.
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