Senate Passes $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

The Senate passed a $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill on Tuesday to not only rebuild the country's deteriorating roads and bridges but also fund new climate resilience and broadband initiatives that are an important part of President Biden's agenda. It passed overwhelmingly with the votes being unusually bipartisan at 69-30. The votes were in favor of Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky senator, and 18 others from his party who fought the increasingly high-pitched efforts of former President Donald J. Trump to derail the bill. 

This move faces a potentially rocky and time-consuming road in the House of Representatives. There, a majority of nearly 100 members including Nancy Pelosi and the Progressive Caucus said they would not vote unless the Senate passed another voting right. 

The legislation itself is undoubtedly considerable. This is the largest  federal investment in infrastructure projects in more than a decade, affecting almost every aspect of the US economy and strengthening the country's response to global warming. As with projects to better manage climate risk, funding for the modernization of the country's power grid will reach record levels. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be invested in repairing and replacing aging public works.

With new federal spending of $ 550 billion, the move will provide $ 65 billion to expand high-speed Internet access, $ 110 billion for roads, bridges and other projects, and $ 25 billion at the airport. It will also update and redesign existing infrastructure and transportation programs that expire in late September.