Written By: Maya Ardon, Edited by: Vanessa Lu Langley
President Joe Biden recently signed a one-trillion dollar infrastructure deal, championed by the president as a “historic investment” (Biden, 2021) into the country’s future. The “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” intends to invest in transportation infrastructure and accessibility to safe drinking water, improve Internet access throughout the country, and advance efforts in the climate crisis by shifting from fossil fuels. Essentially, the law aims to create well-paid jobs and rebuild the nation’s infrastructure with environmental and social sustainability in mind.
Provided by the US Government's fact sheet on the bill, the main components of the plan includes the investment of:
$110 billion into roads, bridges, and major transportation infrastructure projects
$50 billion into resilient infrastructure against weather and climate disasters
$55 billion into clean drinking water, including dedicated funding to replace lead pipes and service lines
$65 billion into broadband infrastructure to improve internet speed, particularly in disadvantaged communities
$21 billion into “environmental remediation” (i.e. addressing pollution from former industrial and energy sites that are now idle, and creating union jobs in communities that were impacted heavily by environmental degradation in these energy sites)
$65 billion into clean energy, including efforts to improve power infrastructure and expand renewable energy usage
and more (US Government, 2021).
Although the president had to cut back on his original $2.3 trillion plan for infrastructure spending by more than half, he garnered bipartisan support for the bill (Associated Press, 2021). The administration aspires to show the law as a success for both its bipartisanship efforts and its sustainability efforts at a federal level. This infrastructure bill is important for the nation, as it will use federal spending to address long-standing socioeconomic and environmental challenges through infrastructure.
TL;DR: This Bill is $1 trillion towards building things and jobs that will improve American’s lives while moving towards a sustainable society.
Works Cited
Biden, J. [@JoeBiden]. (2021, November 15). I just signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal into law alongside members of Congress from both parties. This is a historic investment in our future that will create good-paying jobs and rebuild our nation's infrastructure. It's an enormous win for the American people [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1460360071901233156
The Associated Press. (2021, November 15). Joe Biden signs $1 trillion US infrastructure Bill. CBC News. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/biden-signs-1t-infrastructure-bill-1.6249871.
The United States Government. (2021, August 9). Updated fact sheet: Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The White House. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/.
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