The USD 1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill also includes USD 73 billion to modernize the nation’s power grid and provide support to tackle the climate crisis by making the largest investment in clean energy transmission and infrastructure.
August 13, 2021
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has passed a historic USD 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure with funding for priorities like roads, bridges, rail, transit, and the power grid, and fund new climate resilience and broadband initiatives — delivering a key component of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
The agreement includes USD 110 billion for roads, USD 73 billion for power grid spending, USD 66 billion for railways, USD 65 billion to expand broadband access, USD 55 billion for clean drinking water, USD 50 billion for environmental resiliency, USD 39 billion for public transit and USD 25 billion for airports — as reported in a leading daily.
Also Read: Joe Biden Calls for USD 100 Billion to Expand U.S. Broadband Access.
“This deal signals to the world that our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things,” President Biden said in a statement. “As we did with the transcontinental railroad and the interstate highway, we will once again transform America and propel us into the future.”
Historic transmission investment
The White House fact sheet noted that a recent U.S. Department of Energy study found that power outages cost the U.S. economy up to USD 70 billion annually. To help avoid a repeat of disasters like the deadly Texas blackouts in mid-February, the legislation would invest USD 73 billion in electric transmission and related infrastructure, described as “the single largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history.”
