Earlier this week, the Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure package that includes $550 billion in new investments. The legislation passed 69-30, garnering support from Senators on both sides of the aisle. The bill is more than 2,700 pages, so expenditures by category and graphics are available below to summarize the package. 

What’s in the bill? 

The $550 billion in new spending is broken down into the following categories according to NPR: 

What’s next?

The bill heads to the House, where they can either choose to approve of the Senate version as-is or work on making changes to it and then going to a conference committee with the Senate. Interstate 27 expansion was left out of the Senate version, so if the House passes the bill as-is, different avenues will need to be explored for I-27. While it may take time to flesh out specific projects, West Texas could certainly benefit from enhanced broadband access (as outlined by Senator Perry in the Lubbock A-J last weekend), wind energy projects, water storage, and more.

Lawmakers have claimed the bill would be entirely paid for using a combination of unspent COVID-19 relief money, unused federal unemployment insurance aid, cryptocurrency tax enforcement, and other sources. However, a Congressional Budget Office analysis said it would result in $256 billion in deficits over the next decade.




Broadband access unserved areas, per Connected Nation





Wind turbine location density, per U.S. Wind Turbine Database