The US Senate has approved major infrastructure investments after months of negotiations. The $550 billion (about 470 billion euros) package aims to improve roads, railways, bridges and internet connections. Combined with pre-approved investments, the total comes to nearly $1,000 billion.
This is the first bill since President Biden took office to be passed jointly by Democrats and Republicans. For this reason, in part, it is seen as a clear victory for the president. 69 senators voted in favor of the plan, including 19 Republicans. Both parties have 50 seats in the Senate.
“Today we proved that democracy can still work,” Biden said in response. “We can do great things together, things that are important to the American people.”
deferred maintenance
The American infrastructure approach is badly needed, because there is a lot of backlog maintenance. Twenty percent of the roads and about 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. Some bridges are even completely closed as they have calmed down.
Like the famous Memphis Arch Bridge. Since the bridge is closed, tens of thousands of vehicles have to make detours every day. For truck driver Clifton Hughey, it costs not only extra time, but money, as he previously said in this video:
