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Government Affairs Update
August 11, 2021
Yesterday the US Senate passed HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), formerly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF) which originated out of month-long negotiations between the White House and a bipartisan group of Senators, including Senator Romney. The $1.2 trillion bill, passed with a vote of 69-30, provides over $550 billion in new spending for core infrastructure programs, and a five-year authorization of surface transportation including highway and transit programs. It now heads to the House for further consideration. 

If ultimately adopted, this legislation will provide significant and stable infrastructure funding over the next five years, to Utah and the nation. Below is information about the process, the details of the legislation, and what this may mean for Utah.
Senate Passes Infrastructure Bill
Senate leadership postponed their August recess over a second consecutive weekend to further debate and work towards a vote on HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). After a week of considering various amendments, clearing procedural hurdles, and failed attempts to expedite the vote, the Senate voted Tuesday morning (69-30) to pass the legislation. Upon the final passage of the act, only a few dozen amendments were considered of the more than 500 proposed, leaving the bill substantially the same from the initial drafted language. 

The legislation spends roughly $1 trillion over the next five years on transportation, water, broadband, energy, and other infrastructure programs with nearly half of that a continuation of existing funding. Notably, the act would reauthorize funding for core surface transportation programs by including the Senate’s earlier-developed transportation reauthorization proposal. Though additional details are below, you can also find information on the legislation in the congressional section-by-section summary, as well as the fact sheet, state summaries, and overview of key programs released by the White House. 

Next Steps and Budget Reconciliation
Now that the infrastructure bill has passed and will be sent to the US House of Representatives for consideration, the Senate has immediately turned to the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package which encompasses President Biden’s social infrastructure spending plan, also known as the American Families Plan (AFP). Yesterday, Senate Democrats kicked off a “vote-a-rama” which ran debate on amendment votes for over 14 hours, ultimately leading to an adoption of the 92-page social spending framework. A final vote on adoption of the budget resolution-- which requires only 51 votes to pass -- is expected in the next few days, to be followed by work on the details over the next month by multiple committees. The full text of the reconciliation package was released by Senate Democrats just last week, and intends to provide major investments in paid family leave, universal pre-k, tuition-free college, creation of affordable housing, workforce development and job training, community and economic development, and cybersecurity among other issues. See the summary memorandum and press release from the Senate Budget Committee for additional details. 

Further, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi maintains that the House will not consider the IIJA (the infrastructure bill) without the accompanying budget reconciliation bill. Though action taken on the infrastructure bill isn’t expected in the House for some time, as the House is in August Recess through September 20th, Speaker Pelosi may elect to bring the chamber back early to take action on the bill prior to the 20th. Time will continue to tell how successful the Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill will be as Democratic leadership works to secure the necessary votes for both pieces of legislation.

Below you can find additional details on the IIJA that we reported on in our July 29th government affairs update.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Miranda Jones Cox
Government Affairs Manager
C 435-691-3043
miranda@wfrc.org
wfrc.org
Details
According to a Fact Sheet from the White House, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (formerly the BIF) includes $550 billion in proposed new spending above the “baseline” levels, compared to the $579 billion proposed in the initial framework. The act is anchored with the five-year reauthorization of surface transportation programs, as it includes the transportation reauthorization bills that were previously developed and adopted by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Commerce Committee, along with the Energy Infrastructure Act and the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Acts. The act includes the following:

  • Roads, Bridge & Major Projects ($110B)
  • Funding for core highway formula programs, including for state and local transportation
  • $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation
  • $17.5 billion for projects of national significance
  • Passenger and Freight Rail ($66B)
  • $22 million in grants for Amtrak
  • $24 billion in federal-state partnership grants for Northeast Corridor (NEC) modernization
  • $12 billion partnership grants for intercity rail service
  • Safety ($11B)
  • Funding for a new Safe Streets for All program
  • Public Transit ($39.2B)
  • Funding for existing transit programs, transit modernization and repair, accessibility, and zero-emission vehicles
  • Broadband ($65B)
  • Grants for broadband deployment
  • Requires recipients to offer low-cost affordable plans, increases price transparency and enhances competition
  • Includes the Digital Equity Act to address digital redlining.
  • Ports and Waterways ($17.3B)
  • Funding to address the repair and maintenance backlog, congestion reduction, emissions reduction, electrification, and low-carbon technologies
  • Airports ($25B)
  • Funding to address the repair and maintenance backlog, congestion reduction, emissions reduction, electrification, and low-carbon technologies.
  • Water Infrastructure ($55B)
  • Funding to replace lead service lines and address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
  • Power and Grid ($73B)
  • Funding for the construction of new and resilient transmission lines for renewable energy expansion;
  • Establishes a Grid Deployment Authority for the research and development (R&D) of advanced transmission and electricity distribution technologies; and
  • Funding for demonstration projects and research hubs for new technologies.
  • Resiliency ($46B)
  • Funds to address wildfire, droughts and flooding, and improve weatherization.
  • Low-Carbon and Zero-Emission School Buses & Ferries ($7.5B)
  • $2.5 billion for zero-emission buses;
  • $2.5 billion for low-emission buses; and
  • $2.5 billion for ferries.
  • Electric Vehicle Infrastructure ($7.5B)
  • Funding for EV charging infrastructure, with a focus on rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach communities.

Pay-Fors
Reportedly the most difficult part of negotiations for the bipartisan group and White House was coming to an agreement on the so-called “pay-fors.” Methods like an increase in the corporate tax rate or the gas tax were never on the table for some, while methods like tougher IRS enforcement got scrapped last-minute. However, for the agreed-upon deal, the White House press release states that the plan is to be financed through a combination of redirecting unspent emergency relief funds, targeted corporate user fees, strengthening tax enforcement when it comes to cryptocurrencies, and other bipartisan measures, in addition to the revenue generated from higher economic growth as a result of the investments. While there are no tax increases associated with the plan, not all of the pay-fors are eligible to be “scored” by the Congressional Budget Office as potential uses of funding, leading to a CBO report indicating that the bill would add over a quarter of a trillion dollars to the deficit over ten years -- however, the bulk of that amount is designed to be covered by redirected and already-authorized COVID relief funds. The pay-fors are as follows:

  • Repurposing of certain unused COVID relief dollars ($210B) 
  • Delaying Medicare Part D rebate rule ($51B)
  • Return of unused unemployment insurance benefit supplement from states ($53B)
  • Sales from future spectrum options ($20B) and proceeds from 2021 c-band auction ($67B)
  • 33% return on investment from future economic growth from these investments ($56B)
  • Applying information reporting requirements to cryptocurrency ($28B)
  • Extending fees on government-sponsored enterprises ($21B)
  • Reinstating certain Superfund fees ($14.45B)
  • Mandatory sequester ($8.7B)
  • Extending customs user fees ($6B)
  • Strategic Petroleum Reserve sales ($6B)
  • Reducing Medicare spending on discarded medication from single-use vials ($3B)
  • Extending available interest rate smoothing options for defined benefit pension plans ($2.9B)

What does this mean for Utah? 
In a press release sharing some Utah-specific highlights of the act, Senator Romney stated, “I’m proud to have helped negotiate this bill which includes funding that will help Utah rebuild its roads, mitigate drought conditions, fulfill critical water needs, and prepare for and respond to wildfires. It also includes funding to provide water to the nearly half of the Navajo Nation in Utah who don’t have running water and expand broadband into rural Utah. This is legislation which represents a historic investment that delivers for Utah - without raising taxes and adding to the national debt”. We appreciate Senator Romney’s work, leadership, and partnership, along with his staff team, on this deal!

It’s important to note that unlike the multiple rounds of relief and stimulus funding by which the State of Utah and local governments received millions of dollars in flexible discretionary funding (CARES, ARPA, etc.) within a relatively short period of time, the bipartisan deal, if passed, will primarily increase funding to and will be distributed through existing formula and competitive grant programs over a five-year period. 

For transportation, Utah’s nationally recognized planning and prioritization processes through Utah’s Unified Transportation Plan puts us in an advantageous position to continue investing in and potentially accelerating some projects while also maintaining a state of good repair of our existing infrastructure. This is true for State highway maintenance and construction projects managed by UDOT, transit projects through UTA, and local projects funded through federal programs administered by WFRC and Utah’s other metropolitan planning organizations.

Utah’s key transportation stakeholders -- including all of Utah’s transportation agencies, cities, counties, and private sector organizations -- developed a shared set of Utah federal transportation reauthorization principles. The infrastructure deal addresses these principles by providing certainty in funding over five years; authorizing multimodal funding; and streamlining federal review and approval processes. The infrastructure deal provides increases in funding, over a multi-year period that, if adopted, would avoid a series of short-term extensions and provide the stability that is critical for public and private-sector planning and decision making.