Michigan poised to get over $8B from Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill
Washington — Michigan is slated to receive at least $8 billion in federal funding over five years for highway and bridge projects as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package that's set to clear the Senate as early as Tuesday.
That total includes $7.3 billion from federal highway programs and $563 million for bridge replacement and repairs, according to estimates by the White House based on transportation funding formulas.
That translates to a 31% boost in federal funding for Michigan roads and bridges, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Lansing Democrat, said Monday.
"What this bill is going to do is create resources to do a lot of the things that we need to rebuild Michigan that are so critical," Stabenow said. "Michigan's just about on every page of this bill."
Paul Ajegba, left, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation, and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, tour a bridge at Miller and Rotunda in Dearborn, Wednesday, March 3, 2021.
The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote some time Tuesday on final passage of the $1 trillion bill, which would devote $550 billion in new money toward the country's physical infrastructure.
Michigan would also see an additional $1 billion over five years to improve public transit options, the White House has estimated.
The state may also compete for additional funding from the legislation's $12.5 billion program for economically significant bridges and roughly $16 billion intended for major projects with economic benefits for communities, officials said.
The infusion of federal money will make a difference for Michigan residents on the go but will also create good-paying jobs as construction goes forward, said U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township.
"It's exciting that we're finally addressing infrastructure — basic infrastructure, roads and bridges in this country that have been neglected for far too long," Peters said.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairs a Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021.
The package includes $1 billion for the federal Great Lakes cleanup program over five years, $7.5 billion for a program to support building out an electric vehicle charging network and provisions to boost "Buy American" rules.
This legislation also would provide roughly $100 million to the state of Michigan to continue efforts to expand access to high-speed broadband internet to people without it, Peters said. That would mean providing access to at least 398,000 Michiganians who currently lack broadband access, according to administration estimates.
Michigan over five years would also receive about $110 million toward expanding an EV charging network in the state.
There’s funding for water infrastructure, including $15 billion to eliminate lead service lines, and $10 billion to aid in the cleanup of certain toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals — which Peters said is the "most money ever put into PFAS remediation ever in history."
Another $500 million in the legislation would go toward a revolving loan fund, established last year through Peters' STORM Act, that is available to municipalities to mitigate the effects of rising water levels, coastal erosion and damage caused by natural disasters such as the June storms that caused flooding in Wayne and Washtenaw counties.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden proposed $174 billion to help the U.S. “win” the global electric vehicle market, including billions for EV charging, tax incentives and point-of-sale rebates for people who buy EVs.
Only a sliver of that funding made its way into the bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Senate is expected to pass this week. Biden and a group of senators agreed upon $7.5 billion each for EV charging and buses.
EV advocates are hoping the rest can be written into a $3.5 trillion partisan budget reconciliation bill that Democrats plan to push through with narrow margins in both chambers.
It’s unclear which of the EV priorities will actually be included. A framework for the budget bill released by Democrats on Monday sets broad, top-line figures and directs Senate committees to shape legislation to invest in transportation technology, finance manufacturing in the auto supply chain domestically, invest in “clean vehicles,” and electrify the federal fleet.
Stabenow told The Detroit News on Monday that she’s pushing to include in the budget bill her legislation to raise consumer tax credits for EVs to up to $12,500 for the next five years.
“This is something that has broad support and understanding when you look at how we’re going to decrease emissions,” she said.
“When we look at how do we get to 50% reduction in emissions by 2030, you really can’t do that without strongly supporting the ability for people to buy and drive electric vehicles. So I fully expect that we will see something robust in there.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, is expected to bring up the budget resolution this week after the Senate passes the bipartisan infrastructure package.
Other major Democratic priorities in the framework released Monday include creating universal pre-kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds and two years of tuition-free community college, creating a Civilian Climate Corps, reducing prescription drug costs, and offering dental, vision and hearing benefits to the Medicare program.
"If we're getting into infrastructure, you have to deal with it broadly defined for the 21st century. It's not just roads and bridges, as important as that is," Peters said. "It's also things related to healthcare, related to education."
Stabenow and Peters said they expect both infrastructure packages to pass and make it to Biden's desk for his signature — the budget bill likely in September after the August recess.
"When our former president came into office over 1,660 days ago, he was talking about infrastructure week every week," Stabenow said, referring to former President Donald Trump. "This really is infrastructure week, and we're gonna get it done."
