News

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Signed into Law

November 17, 2021

On Nov. 15, President Biden signed H.R. 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, into law at the White House.

The IIJA authorizes nearly $550 billion in new federal money for infrastructure projects, while renewing approximately $1.2 trillion for existing programs that were set to expire.

The federal government will now implement the legislation, which will provide funding to agencies and states to improve the condition of infrastructure systems. (Here is a breakdown of state benefits from IIJA funding.) Before signing the bill, President Biden announced that former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D) will supervise implementation of the IIJA. Landrieu will be a senior adviser responsible for the coordination of the new law, working through the National Economic Council.

Here’s a topline spending overview:

• $110 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects
• $73 billion to update the nation’s electricity grid
• $66 billion for passenger and freight rail
• $65 billion for broadband internet
• $55 billion for water infrastructure ($15 billion for removing lead pipes)
• $50 billion for climate resiliency projects
• $39 billion for public transit
• $25 billion for airports
• $21 billion for environmental remediation projects
• $17 billion for ports and waterways
• $11 billion for transportation safety projects
• $7.5 billion for low emissions buses and ferries
• $7.5 billion to construct EV charging stations

As the bill made its way through Congress, ABC continued to advocate for merit shop priorities in the legislation, ultimately remaining neutral on the passage of the IIJA. Although the IIJA does not include project labor agreement mandates, the bill does include an expansion of Davis-Bacon requirements and other provisions of concern to ABC. 

After the bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, ABC released a statement from President and CEO Michael Bellaman saying, “Passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill creates an opportunity to effectively modernize our nation’s most critical infrastructure, and ABC and our members stand ready to do the important work to bring America’s infrastructure into the 21st century. However, ABC remains wary of some of the bill’s exclusionary provisions and statements from the Biden administration that could restrict the eligibility of America’s workers to compete for and participate in these construction projects.”

Bellaman also noted that passage of the IIJA must not be followed by the ABC-opposed partisan budget reconciliation bill. ABC strongly urges its members to reach out to their members of Congress to voice their concerns with the partisan budget reconciliation bill by using the ABC Action Center.

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