After Senate Vote on Bipartisan Deal, Congress Must Fill Massive Infrastructure Funding Gaps through Reconciliation

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Senate approved the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — a deal that falls short of providing the climate, jobs, care, and justice investments our communities need and deserve. For example, the deal would leave three out of four lead pipes in place and only replace 4% of diesel school buses with clean electric vehicles. 

Now, the Senate and House have a responsibility to increase funding in budget reconciliation for priorities that are critically underfunded in the bipartisan deal. To ensure the success of the reconciliation package, Speaker Pelosi has committed that the House will not take up the bipartisan deal until the Senate fully passes a bold reconciliation package this fall. 

Some provisions in the current version of the bipartisan deal would actively cause harm by undermining environmental review and protections and expanding fossil fuels. The House has the opportunity to remove these dangerous provisions. 

Sierra Club’s full analysis of the bipartisan deal can be found here. Click here for a spreadsheet with a line-by-line comparison of the bipartisan deal, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, and the investment levels backed by economic modeling and movement organizations.  

In response, Sierra Club Living Economy Program Director Ben Beachy released the following statement:

“While the bipartisan deal invests in some important programs, it fails to meet this crucial moment. The infrastructure package provides inadequate funding for climate action, clean air and water, the creation of good jobs, and racial, economic, and environmental justice.

“We call on the Senate and the House to use the reconciliation process to pass a far bolder package of investments that replaces 100% of lead pipes, expands access to public transit and union-built electric vehicles, achieves a historic expansion of wind and solar power, retrofits and electrifies our homes and schools, protects and restores our forests and wetlands, and ends handouts to fossil fuel corporations.

“We also urge the House to remove harmful provisions in the current bipartisan deal that would support fossil fuels, harm frontline and Tribal communities, endanger the health of forests and public lands, and undermine hard-fought protections for clean air and water and environmental justice. 

“The only way to tackle the country’s interconnected crises — climate change, racial injustice, economic insecurity, and public health — at the scale required is for the bipartisan deal and reconciliation package to move in tandem. We emphatically support Speaker Pelosi's public commitment that the House will not move on the bipartisan deal until the Senate passes the full reconciliation package this fall, and we encourage House members to follow this lead.”