The U.S. House on Tuesday narrowly passed a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint and locked in a late September vote in a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Striking a deal with moderates, House Democratic leaders passed President Joe Biden’s multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint over a key hurdle, ending a risky standoff and putting the party’s domestic infrastructure agenda back on track.
The 220-212 vote Tuesday was a first move toward drafting Biden’s $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan this fall. From the White House, Biden praised the outcome as “a step closer to truly investing in the American people.”
Challenging their party’s most powerful leaders, nine moderate Democrats signed a letter late last week raising their objections to pushing ahead with Biden’s broader infrastructure proposal without first considering the smaller public works plan of road, public transit and broadband spending that has already passed the Senate. One of those was Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux, who represents GA’s 7th District.
Bourdeaux was featured on WDUN’s Newsroom to discuss the infrastructure proposal, along with her plan for community revitalization.
Speaking on the infrastructure bill, Bordeaux said she felt it was important to sign the letter urging democrats to take the win and get the money into communities that need it. “I just wanted to get it done. It’s a really good bill. We got everybody together, which rarely happens in Washington.”
One of the things Bordeaux is proud of is that the bill is bipartisan. “This is what people think of when they think of how legislation is supposed to be crafted. There’s give and take on both sides. It also creates a very measured piece of policy and that’s what I really like about it.”
The bill focuses on a huge investment in infrastructure, tackling issues relating to roads, bridges, transit, inner-city rail, electric vehicles, broadband, water and more. According to Bordeaux, it will also tackle climate change. “In this bill is funding to overhaul our entire electric grid, which is essential if we are going to have renewable energy as a major source.
There’s currently a date tentatively set for September 27th to vote and Bourdeaux admits she is anxious to get it done.
Along with investing energy in the proposed infrastructure bill, Bourdeaux has also been making a push to revitalize communities by focusing on abandoned mall properties. Bourdeaux said that there’s an obvious need to do something about the abandoned properties and was inspired when Gwinnett County recently bought a piece of Gwinnett Place Mall. She began to envision partnerships which prompted her to think creatively about ways the federal government could assist. “We need to redevelop that area. This just creates incentives for developers to come in and redevelop these vast tracks of land in the middle of our communities.”
Gwinnett County has been in the process of asking community members what they would like to see out of the mall. Bourdeaux says right now they are encouraging the idea of a live/use/work/play community.
