House Democrats will bring an infrastructure package to the floor by the end of the month, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told The Hill on Thursday. The package, authored by Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), is part of the Democrats’ response to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis that has followed.
According to the article, the proposal would lay out a plan to put millions of people back to work, and is expected to include funding to expand broadband internet access at a time when millions are stuck at home.
DeFazio plans to mark up his bill in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 17, and the package will head to the floor for debate and vote June 30-July 2.
The foundation of DeFazio’s infrastructure package, the Invest in America Act, would authorize nearly $500 billion for roads, bridges, rail, and public transit. But it is also expected to include bipartisan elements, like legislation that would improve access to broadband internet in rural and other underserved areas.
“Anytime you do an infrastructure bill, the title of the infrastructure bill is jobs, jobs, jobs. That's the title. That's the purpose,” Fredrica Wilson (D-Fla.) and member of the Transportation and Infrastructure panel, told The Hill. “That's the kind of economic boom that occurs when Congress seriously implements an infrastructure bill. It results in jobs, jobs, jobs, and that's what we need now, because many of the jobs that were interrupted by the coronavirus will never come back.”
Source: The Hill
