TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The White House and key lawmakers say they have a deal to pay for the infrastructure that helps our country run. It’s a plan to spend about $1.2 trillion over eight years. Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema led the bipartisan effort to develop the plan.
It looks to rebuild, repair and expand the basic systems that support our economy and our lives---things like roads and bridges, water systems and airports. Senator Sinema worked with Democrat and Republican Senators and the White House towards a deal that all sides might accept.
She says the plan looks beyond traditional projects of concrete and steel.
“We include full funding to expand broadband out to the most rural parts of America, and that would include rural Southern Arizona as well as tribal communities that we've had a difficult time getting broadband out to those kinds of more remote areas.”
She says the plan also includes water management to cope with continuing drought, and land management to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires.
Senator Mark Kelly praised the proposal and said in part: “With this agreement, we are one step closer to making a historic investment in Arizona roads, bridges, airports, ports of entry, water storage, transit, and more. This is a blueprint to rebuild and reinvent our economy for the future that will create high-paying jobs for Arizonans."
But this plan is still a proposal. The five Republican and five Democrat Senators who developed the plan have to convince the rest of the Senate and House to vote to approve it, and President Biden has said his support depends on an additional budget bill to address social issues.
