Infrastructure
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The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, formally the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is a roughly $1.2 trillion package (about $550 billion in new spending) enacted in November 2021 to modernize transportation, water, energy, broadband, and resilience infrastructure through FY2026. Enacted as H.R. 3684 and signed on November 15, 2021, the law reauthorizes surface transportation programs and adds large new investments across transportation, broadband, water, energy, and environmental remediation.
Background:
Sun, Sept 7, 2025:
Trump Tried to Kill the Infrastructure Law. Now He’s Getting Credit for Its Projects. Signs bearing President Trump’s name have gone up at major construction projects financed by the 2021 law, which he strenuously opposed ahead of its passage….Trump called the bill “a loser for the U.S.A.” when Congress was considering it in 2021 and warned that Republican lawmakers who signed on could be thrown out of office by angry primary voters. – NYT
March 2025:
2025: A Comprehensive Assessment of America’s Infrastructure (ASCE)
Key Findings The 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure demonstrates that recent federal investments have positively affected many of the infrastructure sectors Americans rely on every day. As a result, incremental improvements were made across some of the historically lowest-graded categories in the Report Card.
Almost half of the 18 assessed categories saw increased grades and contributed to an overall grade improvement from C- to C. This is promising momentum, but sustained infrastructure investments are necessary to equip stakeholders with certainty for long-term planning and execution of policies and projects that fully realize the benefits of robust resources.
The 2025 grades range from a B in ports to a D in stormwater and transit. For the first time since 1998, no Report Card categories were rated D−. Among the 18 categories assessed, eight saw grade increases. Many of those categories had been chronically stuck at D- or D for years. This improvement was possible due to the government and private sector prioritizing investments in systems that historically had received little attention. Two categories—energy and rail—were downgraded because of concerns related to capacity, future needs, and safety. Broadband was introduced as a graded category in 2025, coming in at a C+. Although evidence points to improvements throughout infrastructure’s system-of-systems, nine categories remained within the D range—a clear sign that more needs to be done to improve the health of America’s built environment.