View from Washington By Tyson Redpath, The Russell Group
Are the Shovels Ready?
Finally, an infrastructure bill is passed into law.
A byproduct pilot program at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture is designated
to receive $10 million to study the
benefits of using materials derived
from farm commodities in construction
and consumer products.
Congress passed the largest transportation package
in history on Nov. 5, following months of tumult in
sparring factions of the House of Representatives that
sought to tie passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act to a larger, and more expensive, social
safety-net suite of programs known as Build Back Better.
Ultimately, 13 Republicans joined the Democratic
majority in the House to pass the $1.2 trillion package, which
is the first infrastructure bill passed since 2015 when former
President Obama signed into law a $305 billion measure for
highways, bridges and ports.
Actual new spending from the measure will total $550
billion and will not include an increase in the federal gasoline
or diesel tax rates, which will continue at their 1993 levels. For
years, transportation experts, past administration officials and
several members of Congress spoke openly about the need to
raise or replace the gas tax to provide solvency to the Highway
Trust Fund, a declining and depreciated funding source for
highway repairs and new construction, which many say doesn’t
assess modern, more efficient forms of transportation.
Still, the trust fund will spend $273.2 billion on highways
and $69.9 billion for transit. It also includes $66 billion for
Amtrak as well as $7.5 billion to build out a network of electric
vehicle chargers and $7.5 billion for low- or zero-emission
buses and ferries. Ports, waterways and airports will receive
$42 billion. Broadband and the power grid will also receive
more, totaling $65 billion and $60 billion respectively. A
byproduct pilot program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
is designated to receive $10 million to study the benefits of
using materials derived from farm commodities in construction
and consumer products.
Unspent COVID-19 relief funds and unemployment aid
will provide $263 billion as primary funding sources alongside
proceeds from sales of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and
5G telecommunication spectrum auctions. The bill is also
expected to add $256 billion to projected deficits over the
next 10 years. Infrastructure spending, as a share of gross
domestic product in the next five years, will be about 1.5%,
compared with 1.36% during the New Deal years, according
to a Brookings Institution analysis of Office of Management
and Budget data.
Importantly, the new infrastructure law includes an
apprenticeship program allowing individuals between the
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