The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is now law! The $1.2 trillion measure represents $550 billion in new federal spending, the most significant investment in the nation’s infrastructure in more than a decade.
The new law includes money for roads and bridges, the electrical grid, aiports, passenger and light rail, broadband internet, plus $17 billion to improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports and waterways, and land ports along the border to help deal with the supply chain crisis. White House officials said they’re already working to identify projects. To coordinate the law’s effective and prompt implementation, President Joe Biden established an Infrastructure Implementation Task Force. Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese are the task force co-chairs.
Monday’s White House bill-signing ceremony before a bipartisan group of supporters capped months of intense (and tense) negotiations between the White House, House Democrats, and a bipartisan group of senators that heralded the measure through the upper chamber. Disagreements over the cost and timeline of part two of the president’s economic agenda, the Build Back Better reconciliation bill, almost derailed both bills. Ultimately, 13 Republicans joined all but six Democrats on final passage.
Now, with only a few weeks before Congress adjourns for the year, Democrats must work through a challenging agenda. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to pass the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill before Thanksgiving. Other items on the to-do list include passing the National Defense Authorization Act, funding the government past Dec. 3, and moving the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a major R&D bill that has languished in the House since it passed the Senate in June.
AMT continues to follow developments and will inform manufacturers as action happens.
Featured Image Creator: Jonathan Ernst | Credit: Reuters
