Senate Approves Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill

• August 10, 2021
• Andrew Bollman

Senators finished up working through the procedural hurdles, and have spent the last few days arguing over the potential amendments. After much debate, the bipartisan infrastructure bill was approved in the Senate, sending the bill to the House where it faces a complicated future. House Speaker Pelosi has said that the House will not pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill without voting for the Democratic $3.5 Trillion human infrastructure bill at the same time.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill has certainly been sold as traditional infrastructure, fixing America’s roads, bridges, ports and broadband, and a bill that is fully paid for. Critics of the bill have said that only roughly 1/3 of the $1.2 trillion bill will go to those roads, bridges, and ports. They have also said the bill isn’t fully paid for as it was advertised, with the Congressional Budget Office came out last week and found the bill would add $256 billion to the national deficit over the next 10 years.

The bill is over 2700 pages of legislature, with a lot of items that will certainly impact the transportation industry. Some of the items included are:

• Provisions that all new commercial vehicles will have automatic emergency braking technology
• Create a truck leasing tax force, which will study common leasing arrangements, and report back to help prevent coercion and predatory agreements
• Regulatory guidance on how truck brokers and truck dispatchers operate
• Establish a program to test the feasibility of road usage fee (national mileage fee).
• Study analyzing the cost and effectiveness of electronic logging devices
• New regulations for rear and side underride guards
• Create numerous safety programs and reports.

This bill still has a ways to go before becoming law, but is moving through the process. Stay posted for more information.

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