new five-year infrastructure plan to get congressional airing

The outlines of a new national infrastructure plan that could cost as much as $760 billion has been introduced in Congress, a sweeping proposal that puts a particular emphasis on climate control issues.

“It’s going to be a definitive departure from our last 70 years, since Eisenhower, and it is going to set a path for the 21st century to defossilize transportation,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio remarked to reporters of the plan.

DeFazio’s Eisenhower reference pertains to the actual 1956 launching of the Interstate Highway System by the 34th President.

While the new proposal addresses funding for highway, rail, and transit upgrade projects, it also supports such climates projects as making all federal buildings carbon-neutral and requiring renewable fuels for aviation.

A press release issued by DeFazio’s office additionally said the plan will set a path toward zero carbon pollution from the transportation sector, ensure a green and efficient transportation system, and prioritize the “safety of the traveling public.”

“It is time for transformational investments to make our infrastructure smarter, safer, and resilient to climate change, or else we will keep throwing money at an antiquated system that is only holding us and our economy back,” said DeFazio.
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The new bill is seen as an attempt to re-start a comprehensive infrastructure building and upgrading effort after a larger $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by President Donald Trump in 2018 failed to gain traction in Congress.

​By Garry Boulard

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