On November 5, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill that will make historic investments in core infrastructure priorities including roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, the electric grid, and broadband.

The legislation, titled the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), will have major implications for states and municipalities of all sizes, as well as the entities involved in responding to governments’ needs for hard and cyber infrastructure.

Improvements to roadways, ports and mass transit are the focus of the legislation and the majority of the funding is targeted at these traditional hard infrastructure projects. U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) has championed the massive infrastructure bill and pushed for its passage.

This weekend, Senator Portman noted the massive impact the IIJA will have on Ohio, highlighting the bill’s bridge investment program which will award competitive grants to certain governmental entities to improve the condition of bridges. “This additional federal funding means we are one step closer to a solution for the Brent Spence Bridge,” Portman said.

The Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Cincinnati, Ohio with Covington, Kentucky has one of the busiest trucking routes in the nation. Questions about its safety and long shutdowns for repair have long concerned area residents as well as the business owners responsible for the more than $400 billion of freight which passes over the bridge every year.

While hard infrastructure priorities like bridge maintenance, port modernization, freight rail, and highway improvements account for a majority of the new spending appropriated by the bill (which totals $550 billion over five years), a sizable portion is dedicated to the expansion of broadband networks and the improvement of cybersecurity.

The new cybersecurity grant program and record-setting investments in broadband development could be game changing for state and local leaders wishing to modernize and protect their communities in these ways.

The U.S. Senate approved the IIJA in August 2020. Friday’s vote means the infrastructure bill will now move to the desk of President Joe Biden, who has indicated a bill signing ceremony will happen soon. Answers to questions about the billions of dollars in new infrastructure grants and programming are below.

Question: How will the money be distributed? 

Answer: The IIJA contains formulaic allocations of funds as well as earmarks and competitive grants. Some categories and sub-categories contain both non-competitive and competitive grants.

• NON-COMPETITIVE FUNDING ALLOCATION PROCESSES
  • Formulas dictated by the bill are based on criteria like state population, or, potentially for specific items, users (ex: transit funds potentially determined by ridership)
  • Once the money is directed to the states, the local bureaucrats are able to make the important decisions about which projects deserve the funding.
  • States can also decide to allocate some of the funding to the county or city governments within their state
• EARMARKS AND COMPETITIVE GRANT PROCESSES
  • Earmarks override state plans for how infrastructure funds should be spent. “Earmarks come out of the money that the state was going to get anyway.”
  • Localities must compete for Competitive Grants via an application process. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Discretionary Grant Process is officially outlined on their website.
  • Generally, the award of competitive grants can be influenced by advocates who confer with decisionmakers in the Executive Branch about the merits of certain proposals.

Question: Which projects will qualify for funding?

Answer: The bill details specific funding streams for the specific projects included in its provisions. Categories of projects included in the $550 billion in new spending are below.

• Roads, Bridges, & Major Projects: $110B — Funds new, dedicated grant program to replace and repair bridges and increases funding for the major project competitive grant programs. Preserves the 90/10 split of federal highway aid to states.
• Passenger and Freight Rail: $66B — Provides targeted funding for the Amtrak National Network for new service and dedicated funding to address repair backlogs. Increases funding for freight rail and safety.
• Safety and Research: $11B — Addresses highway, pedestrian, pipeline, and other safety areas (highway safety accounts for the bulk of this funding).
• Public Transit: $39.2B — Funds nation’s transit system repair backlog, which includes buses, rail cars, transit stations, track, signals, and power systems. This allocation also includes money to create new bus routes and increase accessibility to public transit for those with physical mobility challenges.
• Broadband: $65B — Funds grants to states for broadband deployment and other efforts to address access issues in rural areas and low-income communities. Expands eligible private activity bond projects to include broadband infrastructure.
• Airports: $25B — Increases Airport Improvement grant amounts for runways, gates, & taxiways and authorizes a new Airport Terminal Improvement program.
• Ports and Waterways: $17.4B — Provides funding for waterway and coastal infrastructure, inland waterway improvements, port infrastructure, and land ports of entry through the Army Corps, DOT, Coast Guard, the GSA, and DHS.
• Water Infrastructure: $54B — Provides a $15 billion for lead service line replacement and $10 billion to address PFAS in water, in addition to other items.
• Power and Grid: $65B — Funds grid reliability and resiliency projects and support for a Grid Development Authority; critical minerals and supply chains for clean energy technology; key technologies like carbon capture, hydrogen, direct air capture, and energy efficiency; and energy demonstration projects from the bipartisan Energy Act of 2020.
• Resiliency: $46B — Funds cybersecurity projects to address critical infrastructure needs, flood mitigation, wildfire, drought, coastal resiliency, waste management, ecosystem restoration, and weatherization.
• Low-Carbon and Zero-Emission School Buses & Ferries: $7.5B — Funds and authorizes the adoption of low-carbon and zero-emission school buses, including through hydrogen, propane, LNG, compressed natural gas, biofuel, and electric technologies. Provides support for a pilot program for low emission ferries and rural ferry systems.
• Electric Vehicle Charging: $7.5B — Funds alternative fuel corridors and a national build out of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The federal funding will have a particular focus on rural and/or disadvantaged communities.
• Reconnecting Communities: $1B — Provides dedicated funding for planning, design, demolition, and reconstruction of street grids, parks, or other infrastructure (funding is especially targeted at infrastructure which is deteriorating due to age).
• Addressing Legacy Pollution: $21B — Funds to clean up brownfield and superfund sites, reclaim abandoned mine lands, and plug orphan oil and gas wells, improving public health and creating good-paying jobs.

The post H.R. 3684: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act appeared first on The National Law Forum.

President Obama will release his Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 budget proposal today, requesting roughly $4 trillion in spending for the upcoming year and specifying the Administration’s views on how and from what sources the federal government should be raising money and how and on what it should be spending it for the fiscal year beginning October 1.  The President’s budget sets off a fiscal showdown with the Republican-led Congress, whose members generally view the Administration’s proposals as higher taxes and higher government spending.  Many of President Obama’s cabinet members will be on Capitol Hill this week and in the coming weeks, testifying before House and Senate committees as to the merits of the budget proposal and highlighting areas of potential compromise as Congress develops its own budget for FY 2016.  Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will be before the House Ways and Means and Senate Budget Committees on Tuesday, while IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be before the Senate Finance Committee.  On Wednesday, Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, is scheduled to appear before the House Budget Committee and Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, appears before the Senate Finance Committee.  In addition, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold the confirmation hearing this week for Ashton Carter to serve as Secretary of Defense.  With Committee Chairman John McCain’s strong desire for increased defense spending, the budget will no doubt be front and center in that hearing as well.

The House of Representatives returns to legislative business on Monday taking up three bills concerning programs at the Department of Homeland Security.  On Tuesday, the House will vote on H.R. 596, a bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act while directing House committees to develop alternatives.  Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, Congress has voted 54 times on measures to repeal, revamp, or make technical changes to it.  On Wednesday, members will consider H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 2015, sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx.  This legislation, which passed the House in 2014 by a vote of 234-176, would impose stricter requirements for how and when federal agencies must disclose the cost of federal mandates and equips both Congress and the public with tools to determine the true costs of regulations.  On Thursday, the House will vote on H.R. 527, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2015, sponsored by Representative Steve Chabot, which requires federal agencies to consider the economic effects of regulations on small business before imposing overly burdensome mandates that prevent growth and job creation.  This legislation has also passed the Republican-controlled House in the two previous Congresses.

The Senate returns on Monday and is expected to vote on H.R. 203, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, a bill that the House passed unanimously.  The bill would require annual evaluations of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental health and suicide prevention programs.  The Senate will then seek to turn to H.R. 240, an appropriations bill that will fund the Department of Homeland Security for the remainder of 2015; the current budget for DHS expires  Feb. 27. While the bill provides $40 in funding for DHS, it also blocks any of the funds from being used to carry out President Obama’s new immigration and deportation policy announced in an executive order last November.  President Obama has pledged to veto the measure if the immigration rider is included.  Leader McConnell is unlikely to be able to get the 60 votes needed on cloture on the motion to proceed to the appropriations bill.  Once the cloture vote fails, he will need to figure out an alternative means of considering the legislation.  He has put a clean Democratic DHS appropriations bill on the Senate Calendar under Rule 14, so moving to that bill after the failed cloture vote is one possibility.

In addition to the hearings focused on the President’s budget and on the Defense Secretary nomination, a list of other key congressional hearings this week is included below:

 Feb. 3

 House Committees

Global Threat Assessment
House Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.

Flu Preparation and Prevention
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.

U.S. Interests in Western Hemisphere
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 11 a.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.

Immigration Law Assessment
House Judiciary
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 11 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

Inspectors General Oversight
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10:15 a.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.

NSF Research Facility Oversight
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittee on Oversight; House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittee on Research and Technology
Committee Joint Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.

Energy and Transportation Issues
House Transportation and Infrastructure – Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn Bldg.

Fiscal 2016 Budget Issues – Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
House Ways and Means
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 1300 Longworth Bldg.

Airport Access Control Measures
House Homeland Security – Subcommittee on Transportation Security
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 2 p.m., 311 Cannon Bldg.

Wounded Warrior Program
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Military Personnel
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 3:30 p.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.

Senate Committees

Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 9:30 a.m., G-50 Dirksen Bldg.

Fiscal 2016 Budget – Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
Senate Budget
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 608 Dirksen Bldg.

U.S.-Cuba Relations
Senate Foreign Relations – Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women’s Issues
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.

IRS Fiscal 2016 Budget Request – John Koskinen, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
Senate Finance
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10:30 a.m., 215 Dirksen Bldg.

No Child Left Behind and Student Needs
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 3, 10 a.m., 216 Hart Bldg.

Joint Committees
Veterans Affairs Issues
House Veterans’ Affairs; Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee Other Event
Feb. 3 TBA, Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave. NW

Feb. 4

House Committees

Military Compensation and Retirement Commission
House Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.

Fiscal 2016 Budget Issues – Shaun L.S. Donovan, Director, Office of Management and Budget
House Budget
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10:30 a.m., 210 Cannon Bldg.

U.S. Schools and Workplaces
House Education and the Workforce
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 2175 Rayburn Bldg.

HUD Ethical Oversight
House Financial Services – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 2167 Rayburn Bldg.

U.S.-Cuba Policy Assessment
House Foreign Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.

Legal Workforce Act
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 4, 1 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.

Palestinian Authority and International Criminal Court
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 4, 2 p.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.

Senate Committees

Secretary of Defense Nomination
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Confirmation Hearing
Feb. 4, 9:30 a.m., G-50 Dirksen Bldg.

HHS Fiscal 2016 Budget Request – Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary, United States Department of Health and Human Services
Senate Finance
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 215 Dirksen Bldg.

Cybersecurity and Private Sector Issues
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 253 Russell Bldg.

Implications of Immigration Action
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., 342 Dirksen Bldg.

Vessel Discharge Regulations
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation – Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 4, 2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Bldg.

Indian Affairs Legislation
Senate Indian Affairs
Full Committee Markup
Feb. 4, 2:30 p.m., 628 Dirksen Bldg.

Loan Leveraging Issues
Senate Indian Affairs
Full Committee Oversight Hearing
Feb. 4, 2:30 p.m., 628 Dirksen Bldg.

Financial Exploitation of Seniors
Senate Special Aging
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 4, 2:15 p.m., 562 Dirksen Bldg.

Joint Committees

Proposed Waters Rule
Senate Environment and Public Works; House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee Joint Hearing
Feb. 4, 10 a.m., HVC-210 Capitol Visitor Center

Feb. 5

House Committees

Drinking Water Protection Act
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy
Subcommittee Hearing
Feb. 5, 10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.

Senate Committees

Treasury Fiscal 2016 Budget Request – Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
Senate Finance
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 5, 10 a.m., 215 Dirksen Bldg.

Joint-Employer Standard
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Full Committee Hearing
Feb. 5, 10 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.

Judiciary Issues

Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Business Meeting
Feb. 5, 10:30 a.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.

Kaitlyn McClure, Covington & Burling LLP Policy Advisor, co-authored this post.

The post This Week in Congress – February 2, 2015 re: 2016 Budget Proposal, DHS, and more appeared first on The National Law Forum.