News

Senate starts infrastructure debate

The U.S. Senate voted to open debate on a one trillion-dollar bipartisan infrastructure package Wednesday.

Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio was among the lawmakers able to come to an agreement moving the bill to the floor. “Every American believes that roads and bridges, ports, waterways, even our digital infrastructure needs to be updated,” he says.

Portman says the bill won’t raise taxes.  Instead, additional funds will come from several sources including unspent COVID-19 relief efforts.

The legislation includes an additional $550 billion dollars in new infrastructure funding earmarked for road and bridge repair, clean water investments, broadband, electric vehicle chargers, and more.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers says the deal will address the country’s infrastructure needs while growing the economy and enhancing its competitiveness.  They released a study this week which finds new potential infrastructure investments made by Congress could create more than 100,000 equipment manufacturing jobs and nearly 500,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs overall.