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Suboptimal: Higgins decries federal infrastructure bill

Thomas O'Neil-White

Congressman Brian Higgins is strongly admonishing the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill which passed through the Senate Tuesday. He says the $1 trillion package is not enough to drastically improve the country’s infrastructure.

“Why aren’t we spending four trillion dollars? That’s the question,” Higgins said. “And this so-called bipartisan agreement is suboptimal at best, and it borders on irresponsible.”

The $4 trillion Higgins is alluding to is the amount recommended by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has given the country a grade of “C-” for the quality of infrastructure over the last four years.

Higgins said the United States needs to get back to leading the world in infrastructure quality.

“You can’t expect your economy to perform at maximum effectiveness and efficiency when your infrastructure is substandard,” he said. “We used to be number one in the world, number one in the world in the quality of our infrastructure. Now we hover at about 18.”

Despite passing in the Senate, the bill may have a tougher time passing the House as Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the infrastructure bill will not be moved on until the Senate passes a $3.5 trillion anti-poverty and climate plan.

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