House To Vote Today On $715 Billion Transportation Package

Democrats this week are preparing to pass a $715 billion transportation package called the INVEST in America Act.

According to CBS News, the transportation bill would allocate $343 billion to roads, bridges, and safety; $109 billion would be given to transit; $95 billion would be used on passenger and freight rails; $117 billion would be distributed to drinking water infrastructure, and over $51 billion would go toward wastewater infrastructure.

Congressman Peter DeFazio, the author of the bill, is giving the Senate an October 1 deadline to take action.

“The Senate bipartisan deal is an outline, and it has good numbers,” the congressman said. “I believe we could work out the spending levels in the bill, but there is no policy attached to their proposal.”

DeFazio said that he’s personally urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to merge major parts of his measure, along with existing Senate work on a similar bill, into the Biden-endorsed bipartisan infrastructure deal.

“Well, it took my staff seven months to write the policy. I don’t know how quickly they can write policy over there. So I would suggest that you look at our policy and we adopt significant portions of those.”

While this transportation package is separate from the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the reconciliation bill that Senate Democrats are working on, there are some overlapping projects and legislative priorities.

The Senate has begun work on its counterproposal, but it unclear when it will be brought to the floor for a vote.

The House will finish voting Thursday on the transportation package, and several Republicans are expected to cross the aisle to support it.

However, most House Republicans oppose the bill.

“This bill that we’re voting on and debating this week here in the House is not the bipartisan deal that President Biden was talking about,” Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, a high-ranking Republican on the transportation committee, told Fox News on Wednesday.

“It’s a very partisan bill that puts most of the money in urban areas at the sacrifice [of] rural America and many of the areas that I represent,” Davis said.

 

 

About RavenH

Raven Haywood is a journalist for 10+ years. Graduate from Howard University.

Check Also

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Biden Pledges Federal Dollars For ‘entire cost’ To Rebuild Collapsed Baltimore Bridge

Jacob Fischler, Michigan Advance President Joe Biden called Tuesday for the federal government to foot …

Leave a Reply