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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Details of INVEST in America Act Emerge for Transportation and Water Sectors

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) shared new details of the INVEST in America Act on June 24. The Act is scheduled to be on the House floor next week. 

The INVEST in America Act is a five-year, $715 billion surface transportation reauthorization and water infrastructure bill is designed to create good-paying jobs rebuilding and reimagining U.S. roads, bridges, transit, rail, and wastewater and drinking water infrastructure, helping meet key pieces of President Biden’s vision as laid out in the American Jobs Plan.

Roads, Bridges, and Safety: $343 billion 

  • Delivers better roads and bridges faster by increasing investment by 54 percent, with an emphasis on fixing existing infrastructure. 
  • Dedicates $32 billion for bridge funding to ensure bridges in communities of all sizes are safer, more reliable, and more resilient. 
  • Invests $4 billion in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, helping the U.S. shift to the next generation of clean vehicles. 
  • Dedicates $8.3 billion for activities targeted to reduce carbon pollution and provides $6.2 billion for mitigation and resiliency improvements; also advances the development and utilization of green construction materials. 
  • Makes roads safer with a significant boost to roadway safety programs, record levels of investment in walking and cycling infrastructure, complete streets planning and smarter road design, and safe routes to schools. 
  • Focuses transportation planning to promote mobility and facilitate access to jobs and other essential services; and reconnects communities that were divided by highways with a new $3 billion program to correct planning mistakes of the past. 
  • Targets investments to areas of persistent poverty, rural communities, Tribes, and other continually disadvantaged areas. 
  • Helps elevate state and local priorities by funding Member Designated Projects. 

Transit: $109 billion

  • Makes record investments in transit to increase routes, reduce the transit maintenance backlog, and provide more frequent service, resulting in better options for riders, improved environmental outcomes, and increased access to jobs and essential destinations. 
  • Scales up investment in zero-emission transit vehicles, supporting fleet conversion to reduce local air pollution and related health impacts. These investments are paired with strong Buy America requirements and provisions for workforce training to ensure America can compete in the clean energy economy. 
  • Funds and incentivizes transit-oriented development to make transit more convenient to where people live and work and builds sustainable, walkable communities. 
  • Increases funding for rural transit by more than 50 percent in the first year and sets aside $50 million a year for rural persistent poverty communities. Creates a pilot to improve flexibility in paratransit trips, allowing for brief stops such as childcare pick-ups and drop-offs, and short trips to the grocery store, pharmacy, or bank. 
  • Creates a new reduced-fare pilot program to improve access for low-income riders. Doubles the set aside for urban area formula dollars based on low-income population and deep poverty census tracts, and directs transit agencies to serve these populations. 
  • Streamlines the Capital Investment Grant program to improve project delivery, reduce red tape, and achieve cost savings for transit agencies. 
  • Creates new programs to address several pressing transit challenges—improving compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and addressing transit deserts by providing expanded transit service to unserved and underserved communities. 

Passenger and Freight Rail: $95 billion 

  • Triples funding for Amtrak to $32 billion, allowing for enhanced service, ADA upgrades, and investments to renew and support service on the Northeast Corridor and long-distance and state-supported routes.
  • Provides funding for corridor planning and development of high-speed rail projects, reducing traffic congestion and shortening travel times.
  • Improves rail safety by addressing highway-rail grade crossings needs, requiring additional rail safety inspectors, addressing trespasser and suicide fatalities, and eliminating gaps in railroad safety.
  • Creates a federal blocked crossing program to collect data and enforce a 10-minute blocked crossing limit. 

Wastewater Infrastructure: $51.25 billion 

  • Authorizes $40 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the primary source of federal funding for clean water infrastructure.
  • Includes $2 billion for projects to capture, treat, or reuse sewer overflows or stormwater— helping keep pollution out of local rivers and lakes—and $2.5 billion for state water pollution control programs. 
  • Permanently codifies the clean water “green reserve” to prioritize investments in green infrastructure, water- and energy-efficiency, and other efforts to make utilities more resilient to climate change. Also dedicates $1 billion toward alternative water source and water recycling projects to augment existing water supplies. 
  • Provides critical technical assistance to small, rural, and Tribal communities that often struggle to afford the costs of planning new infrastructure projects and to address local water quality challenges. 
  • Establishes a new clean water grant program to invest in communities with failing septic systems and prioritizes funding to those communities that lack access to adequate sewage treatment systems. 

Drinking Water Infrastructure & Assistance: $117 billion 

  • Authorizes $53 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, the primary source of federal funding for safe drinking water infrastructure. 
  • Authorizes $45 billion to fully replace lead service lines throughout the nation. As many as 10 million lead service lines are currently in use, including an estimated 400,000 schools and child facilities with lead components.
  • Strengthens drinking water standards and improves the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to set those standards. It directs EPA to set health-protective national standards for PFAS, 1,4-dioxane, and microcystin toxin within two years. 
  • Provides assistance to low-income Americans with their water bills by creating two permanent assistance programs and authorizing them at $8 billion. 
  • Promotes near-term customer debt relief by authorizing $4 billion to reduce or eliminate debt incurred since March 2020 and prohibiting water systems receiving this funding from disconnecting the service of eligible residential customers as a result of non-payment for a five-year period.

Read more at the INVEST in America web portal

Details of INVEST in America Act Emerge for Transportation and Water Sectors Homeland Security Today
Homeland Security Today
The Government Technology & Services Coalition's Homeland Security Today (HSToday) is the premier news and information resource for the homeland security community, dedicated to elevating the discussions and insights that can support a safe and secure nation. A non-profit magazine and media platform, HSToday provides readers with the whole story, placing facts and comments in context to inform debate and drive realistic solutions to some of the nation’s most vexing security challenges.
Homeland Security Today
Homeland Security Todayhttp://www.hstoday.us
The Government Technology & Services Coalition's Homeland Security Today (HSToday) is the premier news and information resource for the homeland security community, dedicated to elevating the discussions and insights that can support a safe and secure nation. A non-profit magazine and media platform, HSToday provides readers with the whole story, placing facts and comments in context to inform debate and drive realistic solutions to some of the nation’s most vexing security challenges.

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