Biden to sign historic infrastructure bill amid bitter blowback from Republicans

When President Joe Biden signs the historic $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure into law on Nov. 15, it culminates a 25-year drive to upgrade this nation’s roads, bridges, air, waterway and broadband connections.

“Infrastructure week has finally arrived,” President Biden beamed during a mid-November tour of the Port of Baltimore, one of the nation’s logistical success stories.

“How many times did you hear over the last five years, ‘Infrastructure week is coming?’” Biden asked.

And just in time, it would appear. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the U.S. a “C-minus” grade on infrastructure. The World Economic Forum recently ranked the U.S. 13th in infrastructure.

“Thirteenth in the world,” Biden mused.  “Twelve countries in the world have more modern, efficient infrastructure than the United States of America. By investing in our roads, our bridges, our ports and so much else, this bill is going to make it easier for companies to get goods to market more quickly.”

None of this was lost on lobbyists who had spent the better part of a quarter-century lobbying Washington that it was time to upgrade.

“The passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill is a major win for America,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne Clark said in a statement.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will help connect 14 million Americans to broadband, provide clean drinking water for 10 million families, upgrade our energy grid and create millions of jobs. It is the single largest investment in bridges since construction of the Interstate Highway System and the single largest investment made to address climate change in U.S. history.

“For more than 25 years, the Chamber has led the charge for investment in America’s crumbling infrastructure,” Clark added. “The bipartisan infrastructure negotiations showed us how Congress can work together to solve today's most pressing challenges.” 

Heralding his $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal as “the ultimate blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America,” Biden addressed the crowd while speaking at Seagirt Marine Terminal.

The law puts $17 billion toward port infrastructure and waterways, including $240 million in grant funding available by the end of the year for modernizing ports and marine highways, according to a statement issued by the White House.

Biden is pledging to “modernize our ports” by reducing congestion, addressing maintenance backlogs, deploying state-of-the-art technology and increasing efficiency.

Recently, Seagirt Marine Terminal welcomed four ultra-large NeoPanamax container cranes that will increase the Port of Baltimore's container business by enabling it to accommodate super-size ships. The cranes are electric without any diesel emissions. They are expected to be operational in 2022.

The biggest boost for the port will be expansion of the 126-year-old Howard Street Tunnel. The Port of Baltimore is getting a $125 million grant to allow double-stacking in the Howard Street Tunnel and reduce the bottleneck there, “twice as much,” Biden said in Baltimore.

“They move out a hell of a lot more quickly if they’re going—if they’re imports going out, and if they’re exports—going across the ocean.  That means, in addition to more good jobs being filled, more products on shelves delivered faster and at lower prices.”

One would think this would be positive for the politicians who supported it. Five years ago, a similar stop-gap spending measure passed the Senate 83-16 and by a 359-65 margin in the House.

This year, while 19 Republican senators voted for it, only 13 Republicans did in the 228-106 House vote. And in the process, voting for transport—usually one of the safest votes in Washington—has become a danger. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., one of the hard-right members of the minority party, called those 13 Republican House members “traitors.” There was talk of trying to strip those 13 of their committee assignments. There were death threats on the telephone.

“This madness has to stop,” Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., of the 13 House voters, told the Associated Press. Upton has been a House member from Michigan for 36 years.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., did not vote for the infrastructure measure but nevertheless called out madness.

“This notion that we’re going to have people who are on the fringe, in terms of the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world and others, imposing some kind of purity test on substance is lunacy,” Cheney said.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was musing how his department will grow from a $90 billion agency to a $140 billion one practically overnight. That’s because the new law reauthorizes surface transportation programs and adds $550 billion in new spending on infrastructure within the next five years.

Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg, in a press briefing, said she wanted to be cautious in her approach to spending. But with Democrats yearning for a win before the 2022 mid-term elections, that might be difficult.

“I also want to be careful in setting expectations,” Trottenberg said. “This is a five-year bill, some of the projects are going to take more time and we want to make sure we make investments up front but that we also take the time on some rail projects and on thinking through some of the more transformational things we want to do to get those right.”

Still, there is an expected 38 percent increase in highway funding from 2021 through 2022. Federal spending on highways has not been at this level since 1959, three years after the Interstate Highway System was completed.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) estimated more than $100 billion out of the $550 billion in new spending will be for new grant programs. Those programs will take a while to implement.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., said he expects taxpayers will quickly see progress on the bill. He said that even before the bill passed, manufacturers were gearing up for the bill’s implementation.

“Hopefully, people don’t get upset by all the construction going on,” he said. “It’s going to be very obvious to the American people that we’ve begun the meaningful reconstruction of the deteriorating infrastructure in this country. It’s going to be hard to miss.”