Biden Signs $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Spending Plan
2021-11-16
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1American President Joe Biden signed into law Monday a $1.2 trillion spending plan to provide money for a wide group of purposes.
2They include developing roads, bridges, ports, transportation, water projects, internet service and other things across the United States.
3Speaking from the White House in Washington, D.C.
4Biden said, "For too long, we've talked about having the best economy in the world. We've talked about asserting American leadership around the world with the best and safest roads, railways, ports, and airports... today, we are finally getting it done."
5Biden thanked Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for their work to get bipartisan support for the bill.
6In order to reach the deal in a divided Congress, Biden had to reduce his spending request of $2.3 trillion by more than half.
7The $1.2 trillion spending plan will be partly paid for by using $210 billion in COVID-19 aid that was not spent and $53 billion in unemployment aid money that was not released.
8The Biden administration called the law a historic investment and compared it to the building of the transcontinental railroad and the Interstate Highway System.
9The legislation will provide $110 billion to repair the country's aging highways, bridges and roads.
10The Biden administration said nearly 280,000 kilometers of America's highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition.
11The legislation will give $66 billion to improve Amtrak rail service.
12There will be $39 billion to fix thousands of kilometers of public transportation railways and expand other transportation systems.
13The law also aims to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
14There will also be money for state and local governments to buy new zero- and low-emission buses.
15The law calls for spending $7.5 billion on electric vehicle charging stations.
16The Biden administration says this will increase the use of electric vehicles to limit climate change.
17It will also provide $5 billion for buying electric school buses and hybrids which run on both electricity and gasoline.
18The legislation's $65 billion for broadband service aims to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities.
19To protect against electrical power outages that have become common in recent years, the law calls for spending $65 billion to upgrade the nation's power system.
20It will also provide money for carbon capture technologies and clean electricity production.
21The law approves spending $25 billion to improve airport runways and structures.
22It will also be used for updated passenger areas and air traffic control centers.
23Fifty-five billion dollars are aimed at water and wastewater infrastructure systems.
24Infrastructure is a word for the many structures and systems needed to operate a country.
25The law includes $15 billion to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to deal with polluted water.
26The $1.2 trillion spending plan is about one-twentieth the size of the United States' GDP in 2020.
27The GDP is the measure of the total value of goods and services in the country.
28But, it is much larger than the GDP of many countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand and Nigeria.
29American experts welcomed the deal.
30But they said $1 trillion was not enough to take care of and update the nation's infrastructure.
31Yale University economist Ray Fair said there has been a sharp decrease in infrastructure spending as a percentage of the U.S. economy starting in 1970.
32He wrote in September that the new infrastructure spending plan only covered about 10 percent of the $5.2 trillion he said is needed.
33"The bottom line is that the current infrastructure bill is quite modest," Fair said.
34David Van Slyke is head of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York.
35He told the Associated Press, "This is not going to solve our infrastructure problems across the nation."
36I'm Jonathan Evans.
1American President Joe Biden signed into law Monday a $1.2 trillion spending plan to provide money for a wide group of purposes. They include developing roads, bridges, ports, transportation, water projects, internet service and other things across the United States. 2Speaking from the White House in Washington, D.C. Biden said, "For too long, we've talked about having the best economy in the world. We've talked about asserting American leadership around the world with the best and safest roads, railways, ports, and airports... today, we are finally getting it done." 3Biden thanked Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio and Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona for their work to get bipartisan support for the bill. 4In order to reach the deal in a divided Congress, Biden had to reduce his spending request of $2.3 trillion by more than half. The $1.2 trillion spending plan will be partly paid for by using $210 billion in COVID-19 aid that was not spent and $53 billion in unemployment aid money that was not released. 5What's in the spending plan: 6The Biden administration called the law a historic investment and compared it to the building of the transcontinental railroad and the Interstate Highway System. 7For roads and bridges 8The legislation will provide $110 billion to repair the country's aging highways, bridges and roads. The Biden administration said nearly 280,000 kilometers of America's highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. 9Public transportation 10The legislation will give $66 billion to improve Amtrak rail service. There will be $39 billion to fix thousands of kilometers of public transportation railways and expand other transportation systems. The law also aims to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. There will also be money for state and local governments to buy new zero- and low-emission buses. 11Electric vehicles 12The law calls for spending $7.5 billion on electric vehicle charging stations. The Biden administration says this will increase the use of electric vehicles to limit climate change. It will also provide $5 billion for buying electric school buses and hybrids which run on both electricity and gasoline. 13Internet access 14The legislation's $65 billion for broadband service aims to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities. 15Modernizing the power grid 16To protect against electrical power outages that have become common in recent years, the law calls for spending $65 billion to upgrade the nation's power system. It will also provide money for carbon capture technologies and clean electricity production. 17Airports 18The law approves spending $25 billion to improve airport runways and structures. It will also be used for updated passenger areas and air traffic control centers. 19Water and wastewater 20Fifty-five billion dollars are aimed at water and wastewater infrastructure systems. Infrastructure is a word for the many structures and systems needed to operate a country. The law includes $15 billion to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to deal with polluted water. 21How big is $1 trillion 22The $1.2 trillion spending plan is about one-twentieth the size of the United States' GDP in 2020. The GDP is the measure of the total value of goods and services in the country. But, it is much larger than the GDP of many countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand and Nigeria. 23American experts welcomed the deal. But they said $1 trillion was not enough to take care of and update the nation's infrastructure. 24Yale University economist Ray Fair said there has been a sharp decrease in infrastructure spending as a percentage of the U.S. economy starting in 1970. He wrote in September that the new infrastructure spending plan only covered about 10 percent of the $5.2 trillion he said is needed. "The bottom line is that the current infrastructure bill is quite modest," Fair said. 25David Van Slyke is head of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. He told the Associated Press, "This is not going to solve our infrastructure problems across the nation." 26I'm Jonathan Evans. 27Hai Do adapted this story from Associated Press reports. Mario Ritter Jr. was the editor. 28__________________________________________________ 29Words in This Story 30accessibility -n. the ability to be used, gotten or entered by someone (for example, someone with a disability) 31assert -v. to state something in a strong way 32emission - n. (often pl.) something that is sent out, given off or released (for example, gasses that are released) 33charge -v. to put electricity into a device so that it will operate 34bipartisan -adj. relating to or involving members of two political parties 35bottom line -idiom the most important part of something : the most important thing to consider 36modest -adj. not very large in size or amount 37We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.