In early July, the House of Representatives passed an ACEC-supported five-year, $1.5 trillion infrastructure investment bill, the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2), on a largely party-line vote. The bill featured investments in a range of infrastructure programs and sectors, including transportation, water, schools, public housing, health care facilities, and broadband deployment.
The centerpiece of the legislation is a five-year, $494 billion reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs to replace the expiring FAST Act. The bill includes $319 billion for federal highway programs, $105 billion for transit, and $60 billion for passenger rail. It extends current programs through fiscal year (FY) 2021 and adds $14.7 billion for highways and $6.75 billion for transit, as well as waiving the non-federal match for FY 2021. New programs and policy changes would go into effect in FY 2022.
H.R. 2 also increases annual Airport Improvement Program funding to $4 billion and authorizes an additional $17.5 billion in supplemental airport funding over five years, subject to appropriations.
Wastewater programs would be funded at $40 billion through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund would receive $25 billion. An additional $130 billion would be directed to public school construction and improvements, $100 billion to address backlogs in affordable housing, $100 billion to promote broadband deployment, and $20 billion for hospitals, community health centers, and other medical facilities.
The Moving Forward Act also features a wide range of energy infrastructure investments, including $700 million annually in electricity grid modernization projects, and other tax credits and incentives for renewables and energy efficiency improvements.
“We need to invest today for long-term growth tomorrow,†wrote Council President and CEO Linda Bauer Darr to lawmakers. “With passage of this bill, Congress has an opportunity to address years of deferred maintenance while modernizing our infrastructure networks to lay the groundwork for a postpandemic economic recovery.â€
Following House passage, ACEC directed its advocacy attention to the Senate, where separate pending transportation and water resources bills could form the basis for bipartisan negotiations.
As the House of Representatives developed its $1.5 trillion infrastructure package, ACEC worked to defeat two problematic amendments that would have constrained the ability of state departments of transportation and other agencies to contract out for engineering and design services.
Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) filed amendments during the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee consideration of the surface transportation bill to require DOTs to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before contracting out for engineering and design services, and to mandate that only public employees be allowed to perform construction inspection services.
ACEC lobbied the committee heavily against the amendments and rallied its member organizations and firms to contact committee members in opposition. The cost-benefit amendment was not offered, and the prohibition on contracting out inspection services was offered but withdrawn. The Council also worked aggressively to kill the construction inspection amendment again when the bill came to the full House for a vote.