Victory for Biden as Senate passes $1.2trillion infrastructure bill
THE Senate passed a $1.2 trillion (£0.87trillion) bill yesterday to improve America’s crumbling infrastructure, in a major boost for Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
The 69-to-30 vote on the package to fix roads and bridges, deliver highspeed internet and fight climate change won rare bipartisan support in a sharply divided Senate and followed months of intense negotiations.
Mr Biden’s full-throttle support for bipartisan compromise appears vindicated. However, the bill now faces a difficult course through the House of Representatives. If signed into law, it will be the largest federal investment in America’s ageing infrastructure in more than a decade.
The package will direct $550 billion in new spending towards projects including $110billion for roads and bridges; $66billion for rail projects; $25billion for airports and $65billion to expand high-speed internet access.
Billions will also be directed towards tackling climate change and protecting homes from weather calamities.
The remaining spending relies on repurposing unspent pandemic relief and other public funds.
Much of America’s infrastructure was designed in the 1960s and has not received a major funding boost since. It has left the country struggling to cope with a booming population and lagging behind some international peers and competitors, raising both safety and economic concerns.
Republican opponents have raised concerns over the massive costs, with an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimating it would add $256billion to the deficit over 10 years.
But despite attempts by Donald Trump to derail the legislation, 19 Republicans joined with Democrats to get the bill over the line. Mr Trump directed his ire at Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate minority leader, who was among the Republicans to vote for the package.
“Mitch Mcconnell is the most overrated man in politics... He is working so hard to give Biden a victory,” Mr Trump said yesterday.
Mr Mcconnell has repeatedly threatened to block Democratic priorities in the 50-50 split Senate, but the Kentucky senator’s support for the infrastructure bill reflected its broad public backing. Some have privately suggested Mr Mcconnell’s support was tactical to head off the Democrats’ threats to overturn the filibuster, a procedural rule which requires most legislation to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass.
The vote capped a tense, monthslong negotiation process between the White House and a group of moderate senators from both parties over the scope and size of the bill.
The final package is lower than the $2.3 trillion Mr Biden initially proposed and includes major concessions from Democrats, in particular funding for clean energy projects. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate leader, credited Mr Biden, saying: “It’s been a long and winding road, but we have persisted.”
Senator Rob Portman, a Republican backer of the bill, said “it will be a lasting bipartisan achievement” that would improve “the lives of all Americans”.
The bill must now pass the Democrat-controlled House, where rifts have emerged between the progressive and moderate factions. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker, has said she will not bring the infrastructure package to a vote until the Senate passes a separate, more expansive $3.5 trillion social policy bill.