On April 1, 2021, President Biden unveiled a massive infrastructure plan titled the American Jobs Plan, a broad $2.25T infrastructure package plan that contains $111B for water-related programs, including $45B to address lead in drinking water in homes, $56B for a range of infrastructure programs, and $10B for per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) monitoring and remediation. A Fact Sheet describing the Plan can be found HERE. Since then, the President and heads of several key Federal Agencies have been promoting the package to Congress and the American people.
The President has received push back in Congress, however, due to the large price tag of the Plan and the inclusion of “social programs” as infrastructure which has traditionally be defined as roads, bridges, seaports, airports, and broadband. In response, Senate Republicans released a $568B infrastructure plan on April 22, 2021 that focused on traditional infrastructure programs and included $35B for drinking water and wastewater programs. The President countered with a slimmed down $1.7T plan that was panned by Senate Republicans this past Friday. Additional negotiations over the weekend between the White House and Congressional leaders indicated a further price tag reduction to $1T could be the point at which bipartisan negotiations could continue. A counter proposal from Senate Republicans is expected later this week. While the President had initially set the Memorial Day weekend as a soft marker for getting a compromise bill developed, it is likely that negotiations will continue with key Congressional leaders focused on a July timeframe to finalize a bill.