On November 5, 2021, the House passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The Senate passed the bill in August, which means it now advances to President Biden to sign into law. Colloquially referred to as “the infrastructure bill”, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is a monumental investment in the safety and support of people walking and bicycling.
While Democrats continue to iron out negotiations on Build Back Better, the partisan human-infrastructure bill, Congress passed another short-term extension for surface transportation on October 28th. This extension runs through December 3, 2021. As a reminder, these short-term extensions keep funding levels and policy unchanged.
In August, we sent a link to the Safe Routes to School community to ask questions about federal policy related to walking, bicycling, and Safe Routes to School and committed to answering them here on the blog. Do you have questions? Submit them here.
Questions are italicized. Answers are bulleted below.
“How does your analysis on Aug 10 jibe with DeFazio’s work?”
After a busy spring and summer working on legislation to reauthorize surface transportation spending, Congress is staring down a September 30th expiration date for current funding. Congress must reauthorize transportation spending or pass a short-term extension in order to maintain funding for transportation. Where things currently stand:
On Sunday, August 1, 2021, a bipartisan group of Senators released the final bill text for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This bill reauthorizes transportation funding through 2026 and incorporates priorities originally identified in President Biden’s American Jobs Act. It is currently being debated and amended on the Senate floor. We will continue to update this post as developments occur.
Two key points:
