Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
- President Joe Biden has reportedly begun talks with lawmakers about infrastructure spending.
- His plan to rebuild roads and bridges may have a “hefty price tag,” The Associated Press reported.
- Biden’s team has used this month’s harsh winter storm in Texas to talk about his plans.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
President Joe Biden and members of his administration have begun talking with congressional lawmakers about his plans to invest in the nation’s infrastructure, according to The Associated Press.
Billions of dollars would go to transportation and infrastructure projects as part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill passed by House lawmakers on Friday.
But Biden’s plans for rebuilding the nation’s roads, highways, and bridges could have a much bigger price tag. As a candidate, Biden proposed a 10-year, $1.3 trillion investment.
“Our nation’s infrastructure is literally crumbling,” the plan said. It continued: “It is unacceptable that one in five miles of our highways are in ‘poor condition,’ that tens of millions of Americans lack access to high-speed broadband, and that our public schools have repeatedly earned a D+ grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers.”
Biden’s team has used this month’s harsh winter storm in Texas, where millions lost access to power or water, as an opportunity to begin talks about his plans, per AP. That storm reportedly may have caused as much as $50 billion in damages.
Earlier this month, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Homeland Security advisor, told members of the press the federal government and states would need to work together to prepare the country's infrastructure for future challenges, including storms.
"That's going to require the kind of technology, innovation, and close collaboration among the federal government, states, communities, and the private sector that enables us to incentivize the kinds of actions that need to be taken to build critically - to build the kind of resilient infrastructure that we will depend on in the future," Sherwood-Randall said.