Infrastructure Offers Bipartisan Blueprint

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Last year, Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, comprehensive legislation to improve America’s infrastructure systems. The law provides long-term authorizations for surface transportation, drinking water, and wastewater programs.
• Instead of “pivoting” back to their doomed partisan priorities, Democrats should follow this bipartisan approach to work with Republicans to address other important issues.

Democrats wasted the month of January trying to break the Senate to impose a federal takeover of elections. Now they say they plan to “pivot” back to their reckless tax and spending spree.

Instead of pushing their same doomed partisan priorities, they should return to the framework that helped pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last summer. That process showed how productive the Senate can be when we work together. Democrats should use this approach to tackle other important issues facing Americans, like skyrocketing inflation, rising crime, porous borders, and ongoing disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Transportation

At its core, IIJA had a five-year reauthorization for federal surface transportation programs. These provisions passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works unanimously in May 2021 as part of the bipartisan Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act. The law authorized $303.5 billion from the Highway Trust Fund for roads and bridges, and it distributed the majority of funding to states via the existing formula. To improve America’s bridges, it created a new formula and competitive grant program and authorized $2.6 billion for the program through fiscal year 2026.

The law also authorized funding for multimodal infrastructure funding, freight and passenger rail, highway and vehicle safety, and hazardous materials programs across the Department of Transportation. Those provisions passed the Senate Commerce Committee in June 2021 with bipartisan support. The law provided the first-ever authorization of the popular TIGER/BUILD/RAISE program with a guarantee of 50% of funds for rural areas. Like the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, IIJA incorporated authorizations for rail programs. The 2021 law provided funding for Federal Railroad Administration safety initiatives and reauthorized the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement program. It also authorized funding for Amtrak and credit assistance for the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program. It provided $4.6 billion for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety programs and $6.9 billion for National Highway Traffic Safety Administration highway safety programs.

Republicans successfully included measures aimed at making permitting processes more efficient, such as language to make permanent the One Federal Decision policy that established a two-year goal for completion of environmental reviews for infrastructure projects. The law also seeks to ensure environmental review documents remain under 200 pages, after an analysis found that final environmental impact statements averaged 661 pages. Republicans also successfully included reforms to truck regulations to provide a 150 air-mile hours of service exemption for livestock haulers on the destination of their hauls, and a pilot program to allow for 18 to 21-year-old truck drivers in interstate commerce.

In addition to authorizing funding for surface transportation programs through fiscal year 2026, the law included supplemental appropriations for several initiatives to address infrastructure needs.

Water

IIJA also included the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021, bipartisan legislation passed by the Senate last April by a vote of 89-2. That legislation authorized funding for drinking water programs over a five-year period, including $14.6 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. Recognizing the need to replace lead pipes, the law authorized $200 million to update school drinking water systems and created a pilot program to help communities use mapping information to find and replace water infrastructure.

The law also authorized funding for clean water programs to address sewer and wastewater needs, and it provided funding under the Clean Water Act for research, investigations, and training. It authorized $14.6 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and allocated $250 million for the Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act program.

How IIJA is Working

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is already helping improve roads, bridges, and waterways across America. In December, the Federal Highway Administration sent more than $52 billion to states under the Federal-Aid Highway Program for fiscal year 2022, up from $47.1 billion in FY 2021. The law is funding efforts to improve waterways, such as $829 million in investments in the Upper Mississippi River System. The law provided significant funding for states to carry out bridge improvements, including $101 million for projects in West Virginia and $45 million for Maine this year. Instead of pursuing their radical, partisan agenda, Democrats would be well served to follow this playbook and work with Republicans to address important issues facing Americans.