Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is a United States federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021. It was introduced in the House as the INVEST in America Act and nicknamed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. The act was initially a infrastructure package that included provisions related to federal highway aid, transit, highway safety, motor carrier, research, hazardous materials and rail programs of the Department of Transportation. After congressional negotiations, it was amended and renamed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to add funding for broadband access, clean water and electric grid renewal in addition to the transportation and road proposals of the original House bill. This amended version included approximately $1.2 trillion in spending, with $550 billion in newly authorized spending on top of what Congress was planning to authorize regularly.
The amended bill was passed 69–30 by the Senate on August 10, 2021. On November 5, it was passed 228–206 by the House, and ten days later was signed into law by President Biden.
Background
On March 31, 2021, President Joe Biden unveiled his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, pitched by him as "a transformative effort to overhaul the nation's economy". The detailed plan aimed to create millions of jobs, bolster labor unions, expand labor protections, and address climate change.Legislative history
Senate passage
In mid-April 2021, Republican lawmakers offered a $568 billion counterproposal to the American Jobs Plan. On May 9, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said it should cost no more than $800 billion. On May 21, the administration reduced the price tag to $1.7 trillion, which was quickly rejected by Republicans. A day later, a bipartisan group within the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced that they had reached a deal for $304 billion in U.S. highway funding. This was approved unanimously by the committee on May 26. On June 4, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio announced a $547 billion plan, called the INVEST in America Act, which would address parts of the American Jobs Plan. On July 1, the House passed an amended $715 billion infrastructure bill focused on land transportation and water.On May 27, Republican senator Shelley Moore Capito presented a $928 billion plan, and on June 4, increased it by about $50 billion; this was quickly rejected by the Biden administration. On June 8, the administration shifted its focus to a bipartisan group of 20 senators, which had been working on a package tentatively priced around $900 billion. On June 10, a bipartisan group of 10 senators reached a deal costing $974 billion over five years; or about $1.2 trillion if stretched over eight years. On June 16, the plan was endorsed by a bipartisan group of 21 senators. On June 24, the bipartisan group met with the president and reached a compromise deal costing $1.2 trillion over eight years, which focuses on physical infrastructure. This was planned to be paid for through reinforced Internal Revenue Service collection, unspent COVID-19 relief funds, and other sources. By July 2021, the IRS portion of the funding had reportedly been scrapped. Biden stipulated that a separate "human infrastructure" bill later known as the Build Back Better Actmust also pass, whether through bipartisanship or reconciliation, but later walked back this position. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi similarly stated that the House would not vote on the physical infrastructure bill until the larger bill passes in the Senate, despite the fact that reconciliation overrides much of the obstructive power of the filibuster.
White House officials stated on July 7 that legislative text was nearing completion. On July 14, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced an energy bill expected to be included in the bipartisan package. On July 21, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer put forward a "shell bill" for a vote to kick off debate in the Senate, intending to add the bipartisan text via an amendment. On July 25, Republican senator Rob Portman stated that an agreement was "about 90%" complete, with mass transit being one remaining point of contention. On July 30, Portman stated that this had been resolved. On July 28, Senator Kyrsten Sinema stated that she did not support a reconciliation bill costing $3.5 trillion, breaking the stalemate and allowing the bipartisan bill to move forward. That day, the Senate voted 67–32 to advance the bill, and on July 30, voted 66–28 to proceed to its consideration. The legislation text was completed and substituted into the bill on August 1. On August 5, Schumer moved to truncate debate on the legislation, setting up a procedural vote on August 7, which passed 67–27. Fifteen or more amendments were expected to receive votes through the weekend. On August 10, the bill was passed by the Senate 69–30. It sets aside $550 billion in new spending.
A procedural vote on a House rule concerning passing both bills passed along party lines on August 24.
House passage
In early August, nine moderate Democrats called for an immediate House vote on the bill, citing a desire not to lose the momentum from the Senate passage of the bill. They committed to voting against taking up the reconciliation resolution until there was a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. While both Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had reversed earlier positions to support passing the bipartisan bill separately, progressives including Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman Pramila Jayapal and Senator Bernie Sanders maintained that it be utilized as leverage to pass the most expensive reconciliation bill possible. The lack of a deal caused a late September House vote to be postponed. On October 2, Pelosi set a new deadline of October 31. By October 28, Jayapal and other progressive leaders indicated that they were willing to vote on the bill separately, but Sanders and others opposed this. On October 31, a majority of progressives signaled that they would support both bills.Votes on both bills were considered on November 5, but the hesitation of several moderates to pass the reconciliation bill before it could be scored by the Congressional Budget Office made passing the bipartisan bill unlikely. Negotiations between centrist and progressive Democrats concluded with the centrists committing to passing the Build Back Better Act. The bill ultimately went to a vote, as did a rule to vote on the larger bill once it was scored, passing 228–206; 13 Republicans joined all but six Democrats in supporting the legislation. The six Democrats who voted 'No' stated that their opposition was because the legislation had been decoupled from the social-safety net provisions of the Build Back Better bill. Biden signed the bill into law at a signing ceremony on November 15.
Original version of the IIJA
The following is the bill summary authorized by the Congressional Research Service for the INVEST in America Act, the original version which passed the House on July 1, 2021:- "extends FY2021 enacted levels through FY2022 for federal-aid highway, transit, and safety programs;
- reauthorizes for FY2023-FY2026 several surface transportation programs, including the federal-aid highway program, transit programs, highway safety, motor carrier safety, and rail programs;
- addresses climate change, including strategies to reduce the climate change impacts of the surface transportation system and a vulnerability assessment to identify opportunities to enhance the resilience of the surface transportation system and ensure the efficient use of federal resources;
- revises the Buy America Act procurement requirements for highways, mass transit, and rail;
- establishes a rural bridge rebuilding program to improve the safety and state of good repair of bridges in rural communities;
- implements new safety requirements across all transportation modes; and
- directs the Department of Transportation to establish a pilot program to demonstrate a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee to restore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund and achieve and maintain a state of good repair in the surface transportation system."
Provisions
Overview
According to NPR, the version which passed the Senate on July 28 was set to include:- $110 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects;
- $11 billion for transportation safety programs;
- $39 billion to modernize transit and improve accessibility;
- $66 billion for passenger and freight rail;
- $7.5 billion to build a national network of electric vehicle chargers;
- $73 billion to overhaul the nation's power infrastructure, clean energy transmission, and overall energy policy;
- $65 billion for broadband development.