Madison Kwiecinski and Spencer Finley 

News Editors 

Mvk5945@psu.edu and Sjf5814@psu.edu 

On Friday, November 5, the House of Representatives passed the long-awaited Infrastructure Bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk for final approval. The passage of a significant piece of legislation with bipartisan support, on top of accomplishing an often-wished-for infrastructure update in the United States, has the potential to be a major political victory for President Biden.

This plan will enable a plethora of major infrastructure improvements across the United States, with billions of federal dollars going towards much needed and long delayed structural improvements. The bill includes large sums of money dedicated to various kinds of hard infrastructure, including major improvements to the nation’s roads, bridges, railroads and power grids, as well as increased access to high-speed broadband and mitigation of water and soil pollution. 

Transportation infrastructure improvements will span several different categories. Approximately $110 billion was allocated to improvements for roads, bridges and other projects. On top of this, a total of approximately $160 billion was allocated to railroads, airports, electric vehicles, zero and low-emission buses and ferries and other forms of public transportation, with about $35 billion being allocated for public transportation improvements, $66 billion going to railroads and Amtrak–receiving the most federal money it has received since its founding in 1971–$10 billion going to strengthen existing EV infrastructure and create a fleet of electric school busses and about $42 billion going to improve US airports and ports.

The Infrastructure Bill had been gridlocked in the House of Representatives for months, having passed through the Senate in August. The vote in the Senate was 69-30, with 19 Republicans crossing party lines to vote with Democrats on the bill. Until the vote on November 5, Democrats had been unable to secure the required number of votes in the House of Representatives because of clashes between the so-called moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party; progressives argued against passage of the bill to ensure they had leverage for the passage of the Build Back Better plan, which is currently being held up in the Senate, with moderates arguing that passing some form of a compromise bill accomplished something, which was better than not passing anything.

On Friday, before the vote, President Biden spoke from the White House in an attempt to pressure Democrats into passing this bill and his Build Back Better plan, which will fund a variety of soft infrastructure programs, which includes, among other things, paid maternity leave, federally-funded childcare and additional funding for elder care programs.

“I’m asking every member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now,” Biden said during remarks that he delivered from the White House. “Send the infrastructure bill to my desk, send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate. Let’s build on incredible economic progress, build on what we’ve already done because this will be such a boost when it occurs.”

Immediately following Biden’s remarks, House Leadership determined they needed to push back the vote on the Build Back Better plan, as centerists were insisting on seeing a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of the legislation to ensure the bill is fully paid for. Since a cost estimate analysis would take time, and the Democrats only had a narrowly projected majority for the vote, House leadership is likely pushing the vote until just before Thanksgiving. 

Six progressive Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against the Infrastructure Bill as a means of expressing their displeasure at the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill without the accompaniment of President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better plan. They are Representatives Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. The progressives who voted against the measure claimed that delaying the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill would grant them leverage to ensure the passage of the controversial Build Back Better plan.

Conversely, 13 Republicans in the House of Representatives crossed party lines to vote for the legislation. The Republicans who voted for the bill are Representatives Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David McKinley of West Virginia, Tom Reed of New York, Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Don Young of Alaska.

Hopefully, a vote on the Build Back Better plan will be held in the upcoming days. Biden’s plan would allocate a large number of funding to social programs and needed relief around the country and would be another huge piece of bi-patisan legislation if it passes.