Marketplace | By Matt Levin
There is an awful lot of stuff packed into that $1 trillion infrastructure bill Congress sent to the president this weekend: big projects to fix roads and bridges, broadband, and even the kitchen sink — or at least the water flowing into it.
But, OK, what exactly is in this thing? And how exactly does it address the biggest challenges facing this economy?
The climate crisis
This infrastructure bill got a lot of hype. There’s a reason for that, said Adie Tomer, who leads the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Institution.
“The spending in this package alone is going to rival the infrastructure programs within the New Deal,” he said.
Much of that spending is pointed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including a record $89.9 billion in funding for public transportation.
“So we can expect to see smoother travel along older rail lines, station modernization and new buses all across the country,” Tomer said.
There’s also billion-dollar investments in electric vehicle charging stations and making the power grid more efficient.
Still, Tomer said this money is just a down payment. The other infrastructure bill — the one that hasn’t passed yet — is a bigger deal for the planet, he said.
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