Biden Signs $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Into Law

Monday, the infamous infrastructure bill being debated for months was signed by President Biden. In a ceremony on the White House lawn, Biden signed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law.

“This law is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” Biden said in a speech prior to the signing” Biden initially said. Later in the ceremony he added, “next year will be the first year in twenty years American infrastructure investment will grow faster than China’s…We’ll once again have the best roads, bridges, ports and airports over the next decade.”

Biden and the Democrats are still attempting to pass an additional $1.75 trillion spending package to accomplish more of their agenda they could not weasel through in this bill. The infrastructure legislation “allocates $550 billion in new spending over five years towards building and repairing roads, bridges, airports, and railways, as well as funds for electric vehicles and charging stations. The bill also renews existing spending on transportation projects” reports National Review.

“The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill will add $256 billion to the federal deficit over the next ten years, in a report from August. Much of Republican opposition to the legislation has focused on its price, with Representative Dan Crenshaw (R., Texas) calling the bill “too expensive” in a video message earlier this month.”

“This is what can happen when Republicans and Democrats say we’re going to work together to get something done,” Senator Rob Portman (R., Ohio) said at the signing ceremony. Portman was one of 19 Republican senators who voted for the legislation in August.

“The signing comes just over a week after the House passed the bill 228-206, with 13 Republicans voting in favor of the legislation. The Senate passed the bill 69-30 in August.”

Initially, progressive Representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar withheld support in order to forcefully pass the reconciliation package while moderate Democrats said they would not vote for the reconciliation package until they saw an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).