November 6, 2021

Congress has cleared a multibillion-dollar infrastructure package that could improve Americans' commutes and quality of life, but which fails to meet President Joe Biden's ambitious pledge to cut emissions off at their root: the transportation sector.

The bill, H.R. 3684 (117), is historic in its scope with $550 billion in new money funneled into hard infrastructure, from overhauling bridges to supercharging Amtrak's most popular rail corridor in the Northeast. But it falls far short of Biden's original vision, which promised to dramatically reduce the climate impacts of transportation, the single largest source of pollution. In the end, the final product was the victim of the bipartisan focus it took to get the bill done and is an example of the razor thin governing majority Democrats must navigate.

Democrats did manage to bolster climate policies lacking in that bill with a reconciliation package that, at present, will add billions for transit and passenger rail, set new expectations for states to reduce carbon emissions and makes it easier for Americans to buy electric vehicles. But even combined, the two do not approach how Biden promised to move the nation toward carbon neutrality and zero emission vehicles soon after he took office.

Read more:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/06/infrastructure-bill-build-back-better-519894