The spending stems largely from the administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure deal.

There are three specific projects tied to reducing supply bottlenecks by making it easier to transport goods, according to a White House fact sheet. U.S. ports have struggled to manage the inflow of container ships and move containers onto trucks as the economy recovered from the pandemic, resulting in delays in sending goods to consumers and higher prices.

Among the projects being funded for the Army Corps of Engineers is $858 million to replace locks on the Ohio River so that water levels are high enough for large cargo ships.

Also included is $470 million for a new lock in Michigan that is key for shipping iron ore.

The funds also will be invested in the Port of Long Beach, Calif., and Norfolk Harbor in Virginia to accommodate more shipping.

Source: Associated Press

Approximately 30% of bank CEOs surveyed expect the recently passed infrastructure bill to have more negatives than positives for agriculture.

Which of portions of the recently passed infrastructure bill do you think is most supportive of agriculture?

30% – None: Too many negatives
10% – $66B for rail improvements
26.5% – $80B for ports & waterway improvements
26.8% – $65B to expand broadband connectivity
6.7% – $40B for bridge repair

The new spending bill is an investment that the president has compared to the building of the transcontinental railroad and Interstate Highway System. The White House is projecting that the investments will add, on average, about 2 million jobs per year over the coming decade. Here’s a breakdown of what’s in the bill:

Roads and Bridges
The bill provides $110 billion to repair the nation’s aging highways, bridges and roads. According to the White House, 173,000 total miles of America’s highways and major roads and 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. And the almost $40 billion for bridges is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the national highway system, according to the White House.

Internet Access
The plan includes $65 billion for broadband access to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities. Most of the money will be made available through grants to states.

Public Transit
The $39 billion for public transit in the legislation expands transportation systems, improves accessibility for people with disabilities and provides dollars to state and local governments to buy zero-emission and low-emission buses.

Passenger and Freight Rail
To reduce Amtrak’s maintenance backlog, which has worsened since Superstorm Sandy nine years ago, the bill provides $66 billion to improve the rail service’s Northeast Corridor (457 miles), as well as other routes. It would be the largest federal investment in passenger rail service since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago.

Modernizing the Electric Grid
To protect against the power outages that have become more frequent in recent years, the bill allocates $65 billion to improve the reliability and resiliency of the power grid.

Airports
The plan calls for $25 billion to improve runways, gates and taxiways at airports and to improve terminals. It would also improve aging air traffic control towers.

Electric Vehicles
The bill calls for $7.5 billion to be spent for electric vehicle charging stations, which the administration says are critical to accelerating the use of electric vehicles to curb climate change. It would also provide $5 billion for the purchase of electric school buses and hybrids, reducing reliance on school buses that run on diesel fuel.

Water and Wastewater
The bill includes $55 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure. It calls for $15 billion to be spent to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to address water contamination from polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Paying For It
The five-year spending package would be paid for by tapping $210 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief aid and $53 billion in unemployment insurance aid some states have halted, along with an array of smaller pots of money, like petroleum reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G services.

Source: Associated Press

The Act represents a highlight reel of the Senate’s bipartisan work. It includes several bills that have already won bipartisan action in the Senate, including a must-pass highway bill to extend programs set to expire this fall.

Farm Progress took a deep dive into the final bipartisan infrastructure deal. In this Shortliner, we include excerpts.

Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition, says the provisions, especially the $110 billion in funding for roads and bridges and the $17 billion for ports and waterways, will “clearly enhance the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.”

To illustrate how these infrastructure investments can have tangible impact at the local level, the replacement of a single bridge that had significant load restrictions can easily save local residents $70,000 to $80,000 annually due to no longer incurring detours, explains Steenhoek.

If a weight-restricted bridge calls for a five-mile detour, and that detour affects 25 trucks a day, it will generate an additional 45,625 miles of detours each year.

“If it costs $1.50-$1.80 per mile to operate the semi, the annual cost of the detour for the single weight-restricted bridge is approximately $70,000-$80,000,” says Steenhoek. “These are costs that will be inserted into food delivery and other industries.”

As it relates to transportation, the bill includes $284 billion, or 52 percent, of new spending. Specifically, it allocates:

• Roads, bridges, and major projects: $110 billion (includes $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation)
• Passenger and freight rail: $66 billion
• Public transit: $39 billion
• Airports: $25 billion
• Ports and waterways: $17 billion
• Safety: $11 billion
• Electric vehicle infrastructure: $7.5 billion
• Electric/zero emission buses: $5 billion
• Electric/zero emission ferries: $2.5 billion
• Reconnecting communities: $1 billion

Other categories make up the remaining 48 percent of new spending, or $256 billion. This includes the follow spending breakdown:

• Electric and power infrastructure: $65 billion
• High-speed internet: $65 billion
• Clean drinking water: $55 billion
• Resilience and western water infrastructure: $50 billion
• Environmental remediation: $21 billion

The measure’s $65 billion investment in broadband intends to provide every American access to reliable highspeed internet. This historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment is comparable to the federal government’s historic effort nearly a century ago to provide electricity to every American.

The IIJA also would allocate $1 billion over five years to modernize and improve rural grid resilience. Those funds would be authorized to upgrade transmission lines, improve energy efficiency, develop microgrids and reduce emissions.

The House has already passed its own version of an infrastructure bill—the INVEST In America Act, which the Senate replaced with this plan. The House could accept the Senate’s version, but it’s unlikely without major changes involving additional spending.

Source: Farm Progress

A group of Senate Republicans released their second counteroffer to President Biden’s infrastructure plans last week, outlining $928 billion in spending for roads, broadband, and other infrastructure.

The latest offering from Republicans would increase spending for roads and bridges by $91 billion over baseline, water infrastructure by $48 billion over baseline, and passenger and freight rail by $22 billion over baseline.

It would also include one-time increases of $65 billion for broadband infrastructure, $25 billion for airports, and $6 billion for water storage in the West. The road infrastructure funding would include $4 billion for developing electric vehicle infrastructure.

Republicans did not budge on elements of Biden’s infrastructure bill that would provide funding for services like public housing, childcare, and community-based healthcare workers.

In a letter to the White House, the authors of the counteroffer said, “Policies unrelated to physical infrastructure do not fit in this package.”

President Biden looks to fund the infrastructure bill in part by raising the U.S. corporate tax rate to 28 percent. GOP proposals call for sourcing money from unused funds for expanded COVID-19 benefits.

Source: Industry Week

“I’ve been around long enough … that it used to be that infrastructure wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican issue. There are not many Republican or Democratic roads and bridges,” Biden said in the Oval Office.

Biden said he hoped to come to “some kind of generic consensus” on how to move forward with the group.

The president said his call a day earlier with Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored the urgent need for an infrastructure package that invests in rail, roads and labor. He cited China’s progress on rail initiatives and the country’s bid to be a major player in the future of the automobile industry.

Four senators attended the meeting: Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.); ranking member Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.); Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.); and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

After the meeting, Capito and Inhofe said it was productive.

“We agreed on a lot of things because the president and I have been working together on transportation since 1987,” Inhofe said, referencing Biden’s time in the Senate.

Capito said the meeting was “positive and substantive” and those in attendance agreed to continue working toward a more defined legislative package.

Source: The Hill