“Finally, Infrastructure Week,” said President Joe Biden with a laugh on Saturday morning after the House of Representatives passed its long-contested infrastructure package that night. Many observers saw a reference to the film “Groundhog Day” (“Groundhog Day”), but also to the many promises made by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who also once had a two billion dollar package for roads, rails and numerous others Had promised construction sites in the country.
Biden’s bill has now shrunk to a compromise version of $ 1.2 trillion, but it is still the largest such initiative since President Dwight D. Eisenhower built the highway network with hundreds of billions of federal dollars in the 1950s.
Some left-wing parties refused to approve
For decades, different presidents had tried with different majorities to initiate a major infrastructure reform that would also have stimulating effects on the economy and the labor market. In this respect, it is a political triumph for Biden, which is diminished by the fact that important representatives of the party left refused to give him their consent. Six MPs around Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York voted against the law, while thirteen Republicans around Adam Kinzinger from Illinois voted for it with the Democrats.
The Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, had finally negotiated a compromise proposed by this proposed compromise together with representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus: The infrastructure package should be adopted immediately, and as a signal to the party left they wanted the social package at least with a formal vote take a step forward through the procedure. The left had tied their approval of the infrastructure law in the House of Representatives to the adoption of this social package. But especially in the Senate, the conservative Democrats blocked the second project for months.
“Build Back Better” is stuck
Biden’s success overshadows the fact that he has so far not been able to get this larger part of his agenda, the social and climate package called “Build Back Better”, through Congress. “I know we are divided. I know how bitter it can get and I know there are extremes at both ends that make it harder than it has been in a long, long time, “the president said on Saturday.
After the infrastructure package was passed on Friday, a number of governors in particular emphasized how important it is for the future of their states. New York Country Manager Kathy Hochul and California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke of a breakthrough. Nationwide, 110 billion dollars are to flow into the construction and renovation of roads and bridges alone. According to the White House, the equivalent of around 280,000 kilometers, or 20 percent of American roads and highways, are in poor condition. The same applies to 45,000 bridges. The federal government plans to invest 39 billion dollars in the expansion of public transport – that’s half as much as Biden originally intended. Separately, however, 66 billion will flow into the modernization of the Amtrak long-distance train system.
They want to expand broadband Internet with 65 billion dollars, and the government plans to provide the same amount of money for outdated energy supply networks. Climate protection is to be strengthened in this package by promoting alternative energies – flood and storm protection projects also get more money.
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