Congressional Democrats today adopted a plan to consider the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) by September 27 of this year, and passed a procedural vote allowing work to begin on a separate, $3.5 trillion social spending package.
As previously reported, under the five-year IIJA New Jersey would receive approximately $6.8 billion for highways, $1.1 billion for bridges, $4.1 billion for transit, $250 million for drinking water, and $598 million for clean water under existing federal formulas, as well as a portion of the national allocations of $25 billion for airports, $21 billion for environmental remediation, and $17 billion for ports and waterways.
The 220-212 party-line vote ends a stalemate between Speaker Pelosi and a group of Democratic centrists led by NJ Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who wanted the IIJA passed before the $3.5 trillion social package was taken up for consideration. Passing the IIJA as soon as possible is imperative because the current surface transportation law, known as the FAST Act, expires on September 30.
If passed, the IIJA would be transformative for New Jersey infrastructure and today’s House agreement brings us one step closer to this historic investment. We will keep you updated as this landmark bill progresses.