U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) says Congress needs to pass an infrastructure bill that is “bigger and bolder” than the one that narrowly passed the U.S. House Thursday.
The Democratic-led House has approved a sizable $715 billion transportation bill. The bill passed Thursday includes spending for roads, rail, public transit and water and could serve as a marker in the negotiations over a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators have already agreed to a blueprint for a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package, but it has not yet been turned into legislation.
House Democrats will be pushing to include many of their provisions when Congress negotiates the broader bipartisan product this summer.
After discussing infrastructure issues with civic leaders in Flint Thursday afternoon, Peters said the talks have so far been “constructive.”
“What is constructive is that everybody is taking the need to deal with this in a substantive way very seriously,” said Peters. “And the House action...I think will help us move quickly in the Senate as well.”
The U.S. Senate will have to wait until it returns from its Fourth of July break before taking up its own infrastructure spending legislation.
