What’s in the Historic Infrastructure Package; Monday Deadline for Child Tax Credit

I voted Friday evening for a landmark infrastructure bill that is estimated to create millions of jobs and make long-overdue repairs to the nation's roads, bridges, transit, water and sewer systems. I also voted for a House rule to clear the way to pass the Build Back Better Act in the near future, expected to be next week.

The infrastructure bill includes $1 billion for Reconnecting Communities, an initiative I have co-led, which is designed to help highway-divided neighborhoods like Nicetown, Chinatown and the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia. The Build Back Better Act includes another $4 billion for similar programs to help these neighborhoods across the country.

Since the Senate had passed the infrastructure bill, the House vote sent it to the desk of President Biden, who has said he'll sign it. I was happy to vote for this massive new investment in job-creating repairs and upgrades to our transit, roads, bridges, water, sewer and other systems.

And I also look forward to passage of the Build Back Better Act, which would be a historic investment in making child care, housing and prescription drugs more affordable. It would also be a historic investment in fighting climate change and would continue the Biden expansion of the Child Tax Credit that I voted for, which is on track to cut child poverty in half. I urge families to visit www.getctc.org before the Monday, Nov. 15 deadline to claim that credit for this year. It amounts to up to $300 per child, per month, if you qualify.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill will provide $550 billion in new federal funding for infrastructure, estimated to add millions of jobs over the next 10 years. It includes:

• $39 billion of new investment to modernize transit and improve accessibility for seniors and people with disabilities (Click here to read SEPTA's statement on the bill's passage)
• $110 billion of new funds for roads, bridges, and related projects
• $66 billion for rail, which includes eliminating the Amtrak maintenance backlog and modernizing the Northeast Corridor
• $17 billion for ports
• $25 billion for airports
• $55 billion for clean drinking water systems, including replacing lead water lines
• $65 billion for broadband internet
• $7.5 billion to build out the first-ever national network of electric-vehicle chargers in the United States
• $5.75 billion to replace thousands of transit vehicles, including buses, with clean, zero-emission vehicles; 5 percent of this funding is dedicated to training the transit workforce to maintain and operate these vehicles
• Over $50 billion to make communities safer from extreme weather and climate-related disasters and the nation's infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks
• $21 billion for environmental cleanups
• $65 billion to modernize the electric grid

Thursday: FREE Event on Veterans' Health & Wellness

You're invited to a FREE virtual event I'm hosting:

Thursday, Nov. 11 – 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Veterans Health & Wellness Day, open to all veterans, their families and caregivers who are interested in learning more about wellness. Click here for more information and to register. We'll have experts speaking to give information and answer some of your questions. I hope you can join us!

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