One day after the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report which graded the status of US infrastructure as a C-minus, President Joe Biden held a meeting at the White House with Congressional members from both parties to review the Administration’s transportation infrastructure plans, the Washington Post reports.
Biden hosted Secretary of Transportation Pete Butegieg and members of the House Transportation Committee to discuss the details of the plan, let by the Democratic Chairman of the House Transportation Committee Peter DeFazio. DeFazio has cast future transportation plans as a way to advance environmental policy.
Republicans, however, feel trying to combine environmental policy with other policy is a no-no for some reason. “A transportation bill needs to be a transportation bill that primarily focuses on fundamental transportation needs, such as roads and bridges,” Sam Graves, the ranking Republican on the Transportation committee said in a statement. “Republicans won’t support another Green New Deal disguising itself as a transportation bill.”
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the United States needs to spend $2.8 trillion to maintain and upgrade existing transportation infrastructure in the next decade, about 65% more than the proposed budget requests.
The Biden plan would provide for charging stations for electric vehicles as well as alternative fuel vehicles, as well as fixing and upgrading roads and bridges. It also provides for additional funds to improve mass transit options like trains and buses.