IWBI applauds the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

Since the American Rescue Plan Act passed in the early days of the Biden Administration, Congress has focused nearly all its legislative energy on infrastructure. On Friday, November 5, after months of negotiation, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly referred to as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework (BIF),” which designates $1.2 trillion for the nation’s physical infrastructure. The bill includes $550 million in new spending with the rest allocated for regular annual investments in highways and other traditional infrastructure. It also includes several new investments supporting building improvements designed to help advance health and well-being.

In conjunction with the BIF, a $1.7 trillion human infrastructure bill, the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), also emerged earlier this year, something the Democratic caucus proposed to advance under reconciliation. In recent weeks, internal Democratic negotiations seemed to have stuck as House Democrats remained divided about moving both packages simultaneously. Yet, after last week’s off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere, House Democrats moved quickly to vote and ultimately pass the BIF. The bill is now awaiting President Biden’s signature.

Below we highlight some of the most notable provisions in the BIF.

H.R. 3684- Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (accessed November 8, 2021)

The bipartisan physical infrastructure package contained once-in-a-generation investments in America’s roads, bridges, waterways, airports, railways and broadband, as well as important provisions to support health, sustainability and equity across investments in buildings, transportation and other public infrastructure systems:

• $55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water for households, businesses, schools and childcare centers all across the country.

• $89.9 billion for public transit over the next five years, including the replacement of thousands of deficient transit vehicles, including buses, with clean, zero emission vehicles.

• $50 billion to make communities safer, and buildings and infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change, including droughts, heat, floods and wildfires.

• $21 billion to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites, remediating environmental harms and addressing the legacy pollution that harms the public health of communities.

• $25 billion in airports to make improvements and address repair and maintenance backlogs.

• $3.5 billion in the Weatherization Assistance Program, reducing energy costs for more than 700,000 low-income households by increasing the energy efficiency of their homes, while ensuring health and safety.

• $500 million for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements at public school facilities, including opportunities to address indoor air quality by improving air conditioning systems, ventilation systems, heating systems, domestic hot water heating systems, compressed air systems, distribution systems, lighting systems, power systems and controls of a building.

• $250 million to provide grants to federal agencies to make energy and water efficiency upgrades to federal buildings to reduce energy consumption and remain in compliance with the National Energy Conservation Policy Act.

• $250 million for energy upgrades and retrofits in building infrastructure and systems in both commercial and residential facilities, improving the energy efficiency and the quality of air in the facilities.

• $225 million for grants to enable sustained, cost-effective implementation of updated building energy codes.

As part of its advocacy and policy efforts, IWBI continues to support sound federal policy that promotes nationwide investment in buildings that prioritize health, including the momentous $2.9 trillion in both H.R. 3684 and H.R. 5376 containing support for America’s infrastructure and human well-being.