US House passes $1.5tn infrastructure package amid Covid-19

The House on Wednesday passed a $1.5 trillion package of public works improvements championed by Democrats as a vital economic recovery measure amid the coronavirus pandemic, advancing the legislation over near-uniform Republican opposition and sending it to near-certain death in the Senate.

The 10-year infrastructure plan is about twice as large as a bill House Democrats introduced in January to rebuild the nation’s highways, airports and other infrastructure, a size that Speaker Nancy Pelosi said reflected the toll of the pandemic. It includes an additional $100 billion for schools, $100 billion for affordable housing and more money for rural broadband and clean energy projects.

The measure passed by a vote of 233-188, with three Republicans crossing party lines to support it and two Democrats breaking with their party to vote “no.”

Pelosi, of California, has said the coronavirus has “magnified” and “intensified” the economic needs in the country, with millions of Americans out of work because of the pandemic.

But the legislation is expected to hit a brick wall in the Republican-controlled Senate, where the majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has refused to bring up most marquee legislation passed by the other chamber.

“Naturally, this nonsense is not going anywhere in the Senate,” he said Wednesday.

In remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell said the Democrats’ plan paid “fealty to the radical left,” calling the legislation a “multithousand page cousin of the Green New Deal, masquerading as a highway bill.”

The Green New Deal, a favorite punching bag of the right, is a measure that lays out a grand plan, including an ambitious set of public works projects, for tackling climate change.

“This so-called infrastructure bill would siphon billions in funding from actual infrastructure to funnel into climate-change policies,” McConnell said.

For years, President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders have talked about getting together to deliver a large infrastructure package to jump-start the U.S. economy, but failed to even reach the negotiating table to begin talks — so much so that the phrase “Infrastructure Week” has become something of a running joke in Washington.

“President Trump ran on the issue of infrastructure,” said Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., the lead sponsor of the bill, noting the bill’s cost was smaller than the $2 trillion figure Trump endorsed in April.

DeFazio has said his plan applies “the principles of the Green New Deal,” because it includes strategies to try to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, it would authorize grants for local communities to invest in “low- and zero-emissions” forms of transportation, including public transit, walking and biking.

On Wednesday, the House also adopted an amendment from Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to add $22.5 billion to “replace dangerous lead pipes” that have contributed to the poisoning of children in several cities.

“The amendment would change lives for over 9 million homes across the country,” she said. “The time for environmental justice is now.”

Senate Republicans have coalesced behind a far narrower, bipartisan infrastructure plan that unanimously advanced through a committee last July.

That plan, which Trump mentioned in his State of the Union address in February, would authorize $287 billion over five years and includes $259 billion to maintain and repair roads and bridges.

House Democrats have “completely shut out every Republican,” said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a lead sponsor. “That’s not the way you do infrastructure for the entire country.”