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President Joe Biden signed the $550 billion infrastructure law at a White House ceremony on Monday, after appointing a group of officials led by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and the new White House infrastructure coordinator, Mitch Landrieu, to guide the law’s enactment.
“My message to the American people is: America is moving again. And your life is going to change for the better,” Biden said at the ceremony. “We made our democracy deliver for the people.”
The panel to oversee the law, established by an executive order Biden signed earlier Monday, will be directed to disperse the money in alignment with administration priorities, according to the White House. That means projects at the front of the line will need to use U.S. suppliers, offer union jobs and be designed to withstand the impacts of climate change.
The task force is also charged with making sure projects comply with the administration’s “Justice40” initiative, which calls for at least 40% of federal investments to flow to “disadvantaged communities.” Biden is also asking the panel to coordinate with state, local and tribal governments and avoid waste.
Here’s what’s in the legislation:
Roads, bridges. The law spends $110 billion on roads, bridges and other major projects. This includes $40 billion for bridge repairs and replacement, as well as about $16 billion for major projects. It also will reauthorize the surface transportation program for the next five years.
Public transit. The plan includes an extra $39 billion to modernize transit and improve accessibility. In addition, the deal will continue existing transit programs for five years as part of the surface transportation reauthorization.
Railways. The deal will allocate $66 billion to Amtrak for maintenance, to upgrade tracks in the Northeast Corridor and bring rail service — including high-speed rail — to other areas of the country.
Power grids. The deal includes about $65 billion for power grid upgrades, including building thousands of miles of new transmission lines for renewable energy as well as research for new technologies like nuclear reactors and carbon capture.
Electric vehicles. The law will spend $7.5 billion to build a nationwide network of charging stations for electric vehicles to help accelerate the adoption of non-fossil fuel cars.
Electric buses. The plan includes $5 billion for new school buses, although the program will allow half of that to go toward buses that run on natural gas or diesel. The plan also includes $2.5 billion for ferries.
Airports, waterways. The plan will provide $25 billion for airport repairs and efforts to reduce congestion and emissions. That includes encouraging the use of electric and other low-carbon technologies. It will also invest $17 billion in port infrastructure.
Resilience, climate change. The legislation includes $50 billion to help communities mitigate climate change and ward off cyber attacks. The funds include money to protect against droughts and floods.
Drinking water. The package spends $55 billion to improve drinking water, including dedicated funding to replace lead pipes and remove dangerous chemicals.
Broadband internet. The plan will invest $65 billion in high-speed internet to ensure that every household can access reliable broadband service.
Environmental spending. The law has $21 billion dedicated for environmental remediation to address past pollution that harms public health.
Transportation safety. The plan will spend $11 billion on transportation safety, including programs to reduce crashes and fatalities, especially for cyclists and pedestrians.
The plan also includes $1 billion to reconnect communities that have been divided by past infrastructure projects, such as highways splicing through established areas.
Revenue Raisers
Here are some of the major ways that lawmakers said their plan will offset the cost of the spending:
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