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Report Card: Biden’s 2021 infrastructure bill

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(NewsNation) — On Monday, President Joe Biden stood in front of the Baltimore and Potomac tunnel touting the latest project to come from the historic $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill he signed back in Nov. 2021.

“For years, people talked about fixing this tunnel,” Biden told a crowd in Baltimore. “This is a 150-year-old tunnel. You wonder how in the hell it’s still standing.”

Now, the tunnel is set to be replaced with funding from the bill. It’s just one of 6,900 specific projects that have been announced so far.

Here’s what’s happened since the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed in 2021.

how will it be spent?

The vast majority of the bill’s funding (around 70%) is going toward transportation projects like rebuilding roads and bridges, expanding public transit options and modernizing the American rail system.

The second largest tranche of funding is earmarked for energy investments (11%) which will include building thousands of miles of new transmission lines.

An additional 7%, around $65 billion, will be used to expand broadband internet access, particularly in rural areas.

what’s been announced so far?

One year after Biden signed the bill, here are some of the results:

  • $185 billion in total funding announced
  • 6,900 specific projects have been funded across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
  • 2,800 bridge repair and replacement projects launched
  • 5,000 new clean transit and school buses paid for with bill’s funds
which states have received the most funding?

It should come as no surprise that the most populous states in the country have received the bulk of the funding so far.

California has announced more than $16 billion in funding as of last Oct. 25, 2022. About 85% of that is going toward transportation projects. Texas and New York follow close behind, with $13.9 billion and $9.3 billion respectively.

You can see a full breakdown of each state’s funding here.

how does it compare to other infrastructure bills?

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)

  • Year: 2021
  • Total Cost: $1.2 trillion
  • Percent of GDP: 5.1%

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

  • Year: 2009
  • Total cost: $840 billion
  • Total cost in 2021 dollars: $1.1 trillion
  • Percent of GDP: 5.7%

The New Deal

  • Year: 1933
  • Total cost: $41.7 billion
  • Total cost in 2021 dollars: $901 billion
  • Percent of GDP: 70%