The Senate is expected to pass legislation representing a historic investment in the nation’s infrastructure as early as Saturday.
On Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) moved to end debate on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), a $1.2 trillion investment in our nation’s road and bridges, water systems, ports and inland waterways, electric grid, dams and levees, schools, airports, rail network, transit systems, and broadband. While the Senate was unable to reach an agreement on the remaining amendments to vote on cloture, and therefore end debate, Senators are expected to return on Saturday to vote to overcome the filibuster. Once that vote occurs, a vote on final package could occur shortly afterward. Currently, 18 Republican Senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have indicated support for the bill by voting in favor of other key procedural votes during the process. So far, no amendments to significantly change the IIJA have been adopted during debate, which was expected after negotiators from both sides of aisle asserted that they would block any amendments that threatened the delicately negotiated package.
It should also be noted that on Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) score of the bill was finally released, which was a key factor in completing debate on the IIJA. CBO estimates that the IIJA would add $256 billion to the deficit over 10 years.
The IIJA represents $550 billion in new funding for the nation’s critical infrastructure and would make a significant impact on improving almost all of the categories featured in ASCE’s 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which assigned the nation’s systems a disappointing grade of ‘C-.’ ASCE’s full analysis of the legislation can be found here.
ASCE strongly supports the IIJA and applauds all ASCE members who have contacted your Senators, submitted letters to the editor, and advocated on behalf of the legislation. The voice of the nation’s engineers has been vital to getting the IIJA to the precipice of passage in the Senate. If you have not already done so, take a few minutes to contact your Senators and urge them to vote YES on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.