Bloomberg Government
By Lillianna Byington
April 19, 2021
Democrats began translating President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan into legislation Monday with a bill to reconnect urban communities cut off by highways. The bill from Senate Democrats, led by Environment and Public Works Chairman Tom Carper (Del.), would create grants to finance the removal or retrofitting of highway overpasses and depressed highways that have harmed neighborhoods often occupied by low-income individuals and communities of color. The legislation would authorize $15 billion over five years for the program. Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure and jobs package released last month proposed $20 billion for a new plan “to reconnect neighborhoods cut off by historic investments and ensure new projects increase opportunity, advance racial equity and environmental justice, and promote affordable access.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has repeatedly said he wants to address equity through transportation policy. The senators’ proposal — which only has Democratic cosponsors — poses a test of the administration’s ability to get bipartisan support for that goal. Republicans have signaled they will support only a smaller, more narrowly focused package than the one Democrats are discussing.
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