The Senate on Tuesday passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, otherwise known as the bipartisan infrastructure bill, by a 69-30 vote. The bill is projected to spend a total of $1.2 trillion, which includes $550 billion in new spending spread over five years. The bill does not raise taxes on corporations to pay for itself.

Toplines for new spending include:

  • $110 billion for roads/bridges
  • $11 billion for transportation safety
  • $39 billion for public transit
  • $66 billion for rail
  • $65 billion for broadband
  • $17 billion for ports
  • $25 billion for airports
  • $7.5 billion for buses/ferries
  • $7.5 billion for electric car chargers
  • $73 billion for electrical grid infrastructure
  • $55 billion for water infrastructure
  • $50 billion for protecting water infrastructure from drought/flood/cyber attacks
  • $21 billion for Superfund sites

The bill now moves to the House for consideration. Although House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said this week that the House plans to return early from its August recess on August 23 to consider the bill along with a bill to address voting rights and the budget resolution that tees up the reconciliation process for social spending. The House had originally been scheduled to return September 20.

Text of the bill without amendments can be found here. A bill summary can be found here.

Reconciliation

Immediately after passage of the infrastructure bill, the Senate proceeded to an amendment voting session on a budget resolution that tees up the reconciliation process. After considering many amendments, which are nonbinding and not necessarily included in the final text of the reconciliation bill, the chamber passed the budget resolution. That signifies the first major step toward completing the reconciliation process.

Each of the eleven committees of jurisdiction now have until September 15 to finish their individual bills according to the instructions from the budget resolution to build the final reconciliation bill.

In addition to annual appropriations bills and other spending such as infrastructure and reconciliation, Congress must also address the debt ceiling, which expired on July 31, 2021. There is no indication that the reconciliation bill will address the debt ceiling.

Congress and the White House in 2019 agreed to a two-year suspension of the debt ceiling, which was set at $22 trillion and took effect as of last week. An additional $6.5 trillion has been borrowed since that deal was struck, not including infrastructure and reconciliation. That puts the total U.S. debt subject to the ceiling at $28.58 trillion. In FY2021, the U.S. is running a roughly $3.1 trillion budget deficit.

The Treasury Department has stated this spring that it would use extraordinary measures to avoid defaulting when the ceiling takes effect. With COVID-19-related uncertainty regarding Congressional action that could affect the Treasury’s cash flows, such as tax credits, fiscal spending, and monetary policy, the exact date at which the Treasury Department could no longer meet its debt obligations is not known.