The nation’s roads, bridges and rural interact access could get their largest investment in history this year after President Joe Biden announced Democrats and Republicans reached agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The bill would include $579 billion in new spending, including $109 billion toward roads, bridges and major projects. Vitally for the RV industry, broadband infrastructure would get a $65 billion investment. Connectivity in rural and off-grid areas has grown in priority as more new RVers took to the roads in the past 18 months, expecting the same comforts on the road that they find at home.
“The fact is, investment in jobs and infrastructure have often had bipartisan support in the past,” Biden said at a press conference following the deal’s announcement. “It has been a very long time since the last time our country was able to strike a major bipartisan deal on American infrastructure — which is so badly needed, I might add.
“The investments we’ll be making as a result of this deal are long overdue. They will put Americans to work in good-paying jobs repairing our roads and our bridges. They will deliver high-speed Internet to every American home, bringing down the price that people pay now for Internet service. And they will close the American digital divide.”
The bill would include $16 billion toward ports and waterways, whose shipping operations have been at times overwhelmed during the pandemic as supply-chain issues arose. It also would include $73 billion toward power infrastructure and grid authority. Problems with Texas’ power grid shut down key supply-chain operations in February that resonated through the RV industry.
Among the proposals to pay for the bill are reducing tax gaps and unemployment insurance fraud, redirecting unused funds from previous authorizations and booting public-private partnerships.
