Congresswoman Val Demings Votes to Pass $1.2 Trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

ORLANDO, FL – Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) today voted to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework – America’s most significant infrastructure and economic competitiveness investment in a century, including massive wins for Florida. Rep. Demings will also vote yes tonight on a procedural move forward on the Build Back Better plan – one of the largest middle class tax cuts in U.S. history, along with investments in Florida’s working families.

Said Rep. Demings, “Today’s vote was about jobs and America’s future. When we invest in middle class America, when we invest in people who have to go to work every day, America does better. Our communities need this funding now. Democratic and Republican mayors who are clear-eyed know that investing in our supply chain infrastructure can’t wait, jobs can’t wait, repairs can’t wait, fighting climate change can’t wait, and protecting our health and safety can’t wait.

“As Florida’s families worry about our decaying infrastructure and inflation driven by an inadequate supply chain, this is a significant victory for Florida, and will help build the kind of 21^st century infrastructure that we need to clean up our economic blockages and get the economy moving smoothly for working families across our state.

“Our plans will create millions of jobs in new and future industries, restore our global competitiveness, rebuild Florida’s crumbing roads and bridges, expand broadband and reduce the cost of internet across our state, keep our children safe from unclean water, protect our air and climate, and support U.S. manufacturing.

“At the same time, I’ve voted to move forward with the Build Back Better plan, a fiscally responsible and fully paid for plan to invest in Florida’s working families with one of the largest middle class tax cuts in history, and reduce the outrageous costs of health care, child care, and more. I will keep fighting for final passage on this plan because fiscal responsibility means investing in the future of Florida’s working families while reducing the deficit, and that’s what the Build Back Better plan does.

“During the debate over this legislation, I thought of my parents, who played by the rules and worked hard as a maid, janitor, and in other odd jobs nearly every day of their lives. Today’s Floridians deserve an economy where hard work actually gets you ahead, not one where health care, child care, senior care and housing take every dollar you make.”

In addition to meetings and advocacy with colleagues in Congress, Rep. Demings led and joined numerous letters, press conferences, events, social media, and op-eds (Medicaid, immigration) calling for the inclusion of Medicaid coverage, immigration reform, and affordable housing support, and prescription drug price negotiation, all of are currently included in the Build Back Better plan.

The legislation also includes several provisions from legislation the Congresswoman introduced this week that will help stabilize the National Flood Insurance Program and make insurance more affordable for Florida homeowners.

Background

Open letter from Nobel Laureates in support of economic recovery agenda: “Because [The Build Back Better Agenda] invests in long-term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively in the economy, it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

In Florida, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Florida a C grade on its infrastructure report card. This legislation includes around $550 billion in new federal investment in America’s roads and bridges, water infrastructure, resilience, internet, and more. These investments will add, on average, around 2 million jobs per year over the course of the decade. The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:

• Investments in U.S. supply chain infrastructure, including $17 billion for U.S. ports.
• Prepare more of our infrastructure for the impacts of climate change, cyberattacks, and extreme weather events.
  • From 2010 to 2020, Florida experienced 22 extreme weather events, costing the state up to $100 billion in damages.
  • Florida will receive $26 million over five years to protect against natural disasters and $29 million to protect against cyberattacks.
  • $3.5 billion will be available nationally for weatherization which will protect homes and reduce energy costs for families.
• Makes the largest federal investment in public transit ever.
  • Floridians who take public transportation spend an extra 77.9% of their time commuting and non-White households are 3.5 times more likely to commute via public transportation. Based on formula funding alone, Florida would expect to receive $2.6 billion over five years
• Improves our nation’s airports.
  • Florida would receive approximately $1.2 billion for infrastructure development for airports over five years
• Makes the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system.
  • In Florida there are 408 bridges and over 3,564 miles of highway in poor condition. Since 2011, commute times have increased by 11.6% in Florida and on average, each driver pays $425 per year in costs due to driving on roads in need of repair. Florida will receive more than $13.1 billion for federal-aid highway apportioned programs and $245 million for bridge replacement and repairs over five years.
• Makes the largest investment in clean drinking water and waste water infrastructure in American history, delivering clean water to millions of families
  • Currently, up to 10 million American households and 400,000 schools and child care centers lack safe drinking water
  • Florida will expect to receive $1.6 billion over five years to improve water infrastructure across the state

• Ensures every American has access to reliable high-speed internet
  • 13% of Florida households do not have an internet subscription.
  • Florida will receive a minimum allocation of $100 million for broadband coverage, including providing access to the at least 707,000 Floridians who currently lack it.
  • 30% of people in Florida will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Benefit to lower the cost of their internet service.
• Makes a national investment in passenger rail – the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak.
• Helps us tackle the climate crisis by making the largest investment in clean energy transmission and EV infrastructure in history; electrifying thousands of school and transit buses across the country; and creating a new Grid Deployment Authority to build a resilient, clean, 21st century electric grid
  • Florida would expect to receive $198 million over five years to support the expansion of an EV charging network in the state3. Florida will also have the opportunity to apply for the $2.5 billion in grant funding dedicated to EV charging.

Build Back Better

• Cut Taxes: Democrats have already made sure 40 million American families received a tax cut through the Biden Child Tax Credit and is helping cut child poverty in half. The Build Back Better Agenda doubles down on those investments:
  • One of the largest tax cuts for middle class Americans ever
  • Expands the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for 17 million workers
  • Extends the American Rescue Plan’s expanded Child Tax Credit, providing monthly payments to the parents of nearly 90 percent of American children for 2022 – $250-$300 per month per child.
• Lower Costs: The Build Back Better Plan will cut costs for the things that keep Americans up at night. It includes:
  • Significantly reduces prescription drug prices
    • Gives Medicare the power to negotiate down prescription drug prices
    • Bans big pharma from outrageous prescription drug price hikes above the rate of inflation
    • New $2,000 cap on prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for seniors, and $35 monthly cap on insulin for all Americans.
  • Significantly reduces the cost of health care
    • Expanded access and lower costs for to high-quality home care for older Americans and people with disabilities.
    • Hearing coverage through Medicare for the first time
    • $0 premium health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Floridians and millions of Americans.
    • Expands the Affordable Care Act and reduces health insurance premium
    • Permanently authorizes The Children’s Health Insurance Program (which Congressional Republicans allowed to lapse for nearly 4 months)
    • Replenishes the September 11th World Trade Center Health Program
  • Significantly reduce the cost of long-term care for seniors and Americans with disabilities
  • Significantly reduce the cost of child care
    • Universal free preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds
    • caps child care costs for low-income families
    • enables states to expand access to about 20 million children.
    • parents must be working, seeking work, in training or taking care of a serious health issue
  • Establishes a universal and permanent family and medical leave program for the first time in U.S. history, making it easier for people to keep their jobs and get back to work.
  • Affordable housing investments and rental assistance
  • Green tax credits will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs
  • Port and supply chain investments to address supply chain issues
  • The bill will ensure that the same Social Security benefits are provided in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and territories as in all 50 states
• More Jobs: This is the largest effort to combat climate change in American history and will give our kids cleaner air and water while creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs. Meanwhile, its transformative investments in children and families – in particular universal free pre-K and coverage of child care costs – will unlock the full economic potential of our workforce. In addition, the plan includes:
  • Investments in Clean Energy Technology, Manufacturing, and Supply Chains
  • Clean Energy Tax Credits
  • Investments to create resiliency for extreme weather events
  • Improving the quality of caregiving jobs
  • Expanded job training
  • Reducing the cost of college and workforce training programs
  • Stops rewarding corporations for shipping jobs overseas
• Wealthy & Big Corporations Pay Fair Share: The Build Back Better Plan will deliver this progress for families and the middle class while being fully paid for and reducing the deficit. No one making under $400,000 will see an increase in their taxes from this bill. Instead, families will see massive tax cuts. Our action to advance tax fairness and enforcement is widely popular: 72 percent of Americans support crackdowns on tax evasion by corporations and the wealthy.
  • Stop large, profitable corporations from paying zero in tax and tax corporations that buyback stock rather than invest in the company.
  • Stop rewarding corporations for shipping jobs and profits overseas.
  • Small new surtax on the income of multi-millionaires and billionaires.
  • Catch tax cheats with incomes over $400,000.

In addition, the legislation provides important temporary status to millions of immigrants who arrived prior to January 1, 2011, allowing them to legally get back to work.

Other investments include cybersecurity and homeland security, reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program (cosponsored by Rep. Demings), scientific research, Coast Guard infrastructure, and more.