House Passes $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
WASHINGTON — After years of President Donald Trump’s posturing about an infrastructure bill, House Democrats did a bit of their own posturing Wednesday, passing a $1.5 trillion package with almost zero Republican support.
The House passed the infrastructure legislation 233-188, with 230 Democrats and three Republicans voting yes, and two Democrats and 185 Republicans voting no. Independent Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan also voted no.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) began the debate on Tuesday by claiming that, in many ways, this infrastructure bill was also a coronavirus response bill.
“We are going to need an economic recovery,” DeFazio said on the floor. “This is going to look a lot more like — it already does — like the Great Depression. And we are going to need to put people back to work.”
As partisan as the vote was Wednesday, Republicans and Democrats did agree on one point: This was also an environmental bill.
DeFazio said Democrats had woven a number of environmental provisions into the legislation, and the main point of contention between Republicans and Democrats were these “green energy” programs.
“We have a disagreement in principle,” DeFazio said, referring to the issue of climate change. “And you can’t compromise on principle.”
Over the course of two days of debate, Republicans made that clear. The green energy provisions ― which were mostly tax credits for more environmentally friendly energy alternatives ― would cost $124 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, though the bedrock of the infrastructure package was a $494 billion green transportation bill that DeFazio’s committee passed in June.
Also included in the legislation was roughly $300 billion to fix dilapidated bridges and roads, $100 billion to help fix schools, $100 billion for affordable housing, $100 billion for broadband internet, $40 billion in new...
