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US Capitol: The major infrastructure package received a majority in the Senate
Photo: SARAH SILBIGER / REUTERS
Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating for months, and in the end there was a result: Now the US Senate has passed a huge infrastructure package.
In the Congress Chamber on Tuesday Democrats and several Republicans voted in favor of the 2,700-page legislative package designed to modernize roads, bridges, and other transportation and energy networks in the United States.
During the negotiations, the package shrank to around half the volume originally planned by the administration of US President Joe Biden. Around 550 billion dollars in new investments in infrastructure are now planned over the next few years. In total - including the funds already budgeted - the package is worth around one trillion dollars. After the Senate, the House of Representatives still has to give its approval, the schedule for this is unclear.
Biden had already presented the first plans in the spring with which he wanted to spend around two trillion dollars in the next eight years for the renewal of the infrastructure. However, these met with considerable resistance from Republicans. Despite the significant deletions in the negotiations, according to the presidential office, it is still the largest infrastructure investment in decades.
Accordingly, around 110 billion dollars will flow into the expansion or renewal of roads and bridges, almost 40 billion into the expansion of local public transport and another 66 billion dollars into the rail network.
In addition, funds are earmarked for expanding the charging stations for electric cars and for promoting electric buses.
A total of 42 billion dollars are planned for ports and airports.
The package is also intended to finance the expansion of high-speed Internet connections, the modernization of electricity networks and the improvement of the water supply, including the replacement of all lead pipes.
Biden had argued from the start that the investment would create millions of jobs and spoke of a historic project.
The modernization of the infrastructure is urgently required.
Biden's Democrats only have narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. In the Senate, their majority is very thin. There, however, 60 of the 100 senators have to agree to an end to the debate for ordinary bills in order for a vote to take place at all. This means that in the Senate, the Democrats regularly rely on votes from the Republicans to push through projects.
Before the start of the summer break, the Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer wants to bring a budget proposal with a volume of around 3.5 trillion dollars through the Senate. The draft would provide for a massive expansion of social benefits, including help for families and more educational opportunities. The Democrats could push through the budget through a special procedure largely without the approval of the Republicans, but then they would not have a single deviator in their own ranks. Republicans are vigorously opposed to broader social spending.
In the House of Representatives, some of the Democrats only want to decide on the infrastructure package together with the budget they are aiming for.
The Democratic Chairwoman of the Chamber of Parliament, Nancy Pelosi, has announced that both should be decided in twos.
The House of Representatives has already said goodbye to the parliamentary summer recess.
fdi / dpa
