The House of Representatives passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package with sweeping measures addressing roads, public housing, broadband and more. Democrats described the package as "green," with provisions for addressing climate change and clean energy, including a requirement that states receiving transportation funding set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, passed Wednesday 239-188 largely along party lines, making its future uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described it on the Senate floor as "nonsense" that will not advance in the Senate, and President Donald Trump pledged to veto it.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement that the House vote "brings us one step closer to reinvigorating our economy and making long overdue investments in our country's infrastructure." His committee's contributions to the bill included "the largest tax investment in combating climate change that Congress has ever made."
Democrats plan to sell the package as a way to stimulate employment during the COVID-19 economic crisis. Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of large labor unions and environmental organizations, said in a statement that the vote "puts the nation on a path to economic recovery at a time when millions of Americans are out of work, while repairing our infrastructure and boosting our manufacturing sector. The investments included in the Moving Forward Act will create good, family-sustaining jobs across the nation, while improving public health and reducing the emissions driving climate change."
