Democrats Unveil $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan

June 19, 2020

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by Rebecca Beitsch (The Hill) House Democrats unveiled a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan Thursday that calls for a huge increase in funding to repair roads and bridges while expanding broadband access in rural areas.

Democrats described the bill as the biggest legislative effort to fight climate change, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) saying the package would “make real the promise of building infrastructure in a green and resilient way.”

“It's job-creating in its essence, but it's also commerce-promoting. So it grows the economy of our country,” she said.

The legislation is the latest attempt to advance an infrastructure package that has been discussed since the early days of the Trump administration but continuously fails to gain traction.

Though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he does not want to include infrastructure with coronavirus relief, passage of the House measure could put added pressure on the upper chamber to take action next month. House Democrats have passed their $3 trillion HEROES Act and Senate Republicans have yet to draft their next COVID-19 relief package.

The infrastructure bill, known as the Moving Forward Act, includes $25 billion for drinking water, $100 billion for broadband, $70 billion for clean energy projects, $100 billion for low income schools, $30 billion to upgrade hospitals, $100 billion in funding for public housing and $25 billion for the postal service. But its largest component is a $500 billion Democrat-led bill from the House Transportation Committee that has sparked Republican complaints of exclusion.

Tensions on the Transportation Committee have flared largely over the green measures included in the bill, which requires states to account for climate change before undertaking projects and also requires states to meet certain greenhouse gas emission goals when they receive funding.

“Those who don't believe in climate change, tough luck. We're going to deal with it,” Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said.

“Republicans have been a bit critical at points during the mark up and saying this is Green New Deal 2.0. This is the application of the principles of the Green New Deal. And this proves that we can both deal with climate change, fossil fuel pollution and actually create millions of new high-paying American jobs. That is the promise of this legislation,” he added. READ MORE

Read the text of the bill and a section-by-section summary.

House Democrats roll out $500B green transportation infrastructure bill (The Hill)

House Democrats Introduce $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill (Forbes)

The INVEST in America Act Addresses Climate Change Through Resilient, Clean Infrastructure (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)

ON THE WISH LIST: (Politico's Morning Energy)

Democrats detail their $1.5T green infrastructure plan (The Hill)

NATA Cheers SAF Inclusion in House Bill (AIN Online)

Want to Fix the Climate Crisis? Start Listening to Black People--Rhiana Gunn-Wright, one of the architects of the Green New Deal, talks to Bloomberg Green about the connections between environmental policy, economic recovery, and defunding police READ MORE

Excerpt from Forbes: The bill dedicates $300 billion to build and fix roads and bridges and would invest $100 billion in transit options, though it also doesn’t detail how the programs will be paid for.

A major aspect of the bill is investing "in programs, projects and materials that emphasize resiliency while reducing carbon pollution from the transportation sector," which could serve as a major roadblock to moving forward with Republicans in Congress. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: ON THE WISH LIST: House Democratic leaders on Monday unveiled the text of a broad $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that includes billions for clean energy and clean water. "Those who don't believe in climate change, tough luck," Transportation Chair Peter DeFazio said when announcing the bill last week. "We're going to deal with it."

The bill, H.R. 2 (116), would pour tens of billions of dollars into modernizing the electric grid, investing in clean water projects and extending a host of clean energy tax credits, Pro's Anthony Adragna, Eric Wolff, Gavin Bade and Ben Lefebvre report.

Some of the toplines: The legislation would extend the 30 percent Investment Tax Credit for solar projects until 2025, after which it would gradually step down to 10 percent in 2028. The Production Tax Credit would also be extended to 2025, as would the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and sequestration projects.

— The Transportation Department would be required to issue an annual report ranking states by their carbon emissions reductions. The top 15 states would be able to use federal funds to pay for state-approved parts of the transportation projects. For the bottom 15 states, the department would postpone issuing 10 percent of the project budget until improvements were made.

— It includes $250 million annually for five years for grants to states to improve the natural gas distribution program and $2 billion over five years to help address orphaned oil and gas wells on public lands.

— FERC would be directed to issue a report and begin a rulemaking process to increase the construction of interstate transmission lines, which experts consider essential to fostering renewable energy growth.

— $46.5 billion for water infrastructure projects and an additional $2.5 billion for regional cleanups that the Trump administration has previously proposed cutting.

Timeline: House leaders expect to bring the bill to a vote before July 4. But it faces an uncertain path forward amid opposition from Republicans, who call it a Democratic wish list. READ MORE

Excerpt from Environmental and Energy Study Institute: On June 3, 2020, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) released the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America (INVEST in America) Act (H.R.2), a 5-year, $494 billion surface transportation bill that is central to the House Democrats’ Moving Forward Framework. The INVEST in America Act aims to transform America’s aging infrastructure by funding projects that increase the safety, reliability, and resilience of surface transportation while mitigating climate change.

The INVEST in America Act would allocate $319 billion to highway investments, $105 billion to transit investments, $10 billion to passenger vehicle and commercial motor vehicle safety investments, and $60 billion to rail investments. In a press release, Chair DeFazio emphasized the need for this legislation, saying “We’re still running our economy on an inefficient, 1950s-era system that costs Americans increasingly more time and money while making the transportation sector the nation’s biggest source of carbon pollution. That all changes with the INVEST in America Act.”

The bill would introduce measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector—currently responsible for 28.2 percent of U.S. emissions, more than any other sector. One provision grants $8.35 billion for fiscal year 2022-2025 to a program that would measure states’ annual emissions and require low-performing states to invest in projects that reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Another $1.4 billion would fund the construction of charging and fueling stations for electric and zero-emissions vehicles. The bill also encourages a shift away from single-occupant car transportation by increasing investments in zero-emission buses, tripling funding to Amtrak to expand travel routes and develop equipment, and requiring states with high pedestrian and bicyclist deaths to fund construction of safe transportation networks.

...

The current surface transportation authorization, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, is set to expire on September 30, 2020. READ MORE

Excerpt from AIN Online: With the House of Representatives yesterday releasing the text of its Infrastructure package bill, “The Moving Forward Act," NATA is applauding the inclusion of language to further the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel. The bill calls for the allocation of $30 million a year through 2025 for the study and development of renewable aviation fuels.

Part of the measure also authorizes an additional $5 million a year over the same period, to be appropriated from the Treasury general fund, to the Center for Excellence for Alternative Jet Fuels and Environment. To be overseen by the FAA, the funds will be used for “programs to assess and reduce the environmental impacts of aviation, and to improve the health and quality of life of individuals living in and around airport communities.”

“The aviation business community is at the forefront of the transition to sustainable fuels and is taking proactive measures towards building a sustainable future,” said NATA president and CEO Timothy Obitts. “We believe that provisions like these that affirm and assist our collective efforts will help foster the impactful breakthroughs and long-term progress our industry is working to contribute through innovation, collaboration, and education.” READ MORE