A Bipartisan Infrastructure Win for MI

I wanted to let you know about some big news coming out of Congress this week: Yesterday, the House *passed* a once-in-a-generation investment in our infrastructure. This bipartisan infrastructure package is the largest-long term investment in our infrastructure in nearly a century. I wanted to tell you a little about this bipartisan bill – which is now headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law – and why it’s a huge win for Michigan families.

One of the best parts of this package is that all of the infrastructure improvements funded in this bill are going to create tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs in communities all over Michigan, helping to rebuild our middle class. 

In addition, the legislation will make generational investments in Michigan’s infrastructure, including by:

Repairing our roads and bridges

• Michigan would receive more than $7.3 billion for repairing highways and more than $563 million for bridges.

Making sure Michigan families have clean, safe drinking water

• Included in this bill is $1.3 billion for Michigan’s water infrastructure — money that will go towards replacing lead water pipes that are making people sick, and cleaning up contamination from PFAS and other toxic forever chemicals.

Helping Michigan lead the transition to electric vehicles 

• This package also puts $110 million towards building electric vehicle charging stations across our state. This investment will reduce carbon emissions, support manufacturing jobs at auto plants like GM’s factory in Lake Orion, and position Michigan as a national leader in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.

Expanding access to broadband

• Michigan would receive over $100 million to help expand high-speed broadband coverage, especially to our rural communities, especially to areas like Livingston County, where the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments reports that roughly one in 10 households don’t have access to reliable internet right now.

In these polarized times, I think it’s really important to acknowledge that bipartisanship is still possible. As a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, I started working with my colleagues on the bones of this bill in *June*. It took months of tough negotiations and hard work, but we got it done. This bill is proof that the ability to work across the aisle in Congress to actually deliver for our constituents is alive and well.

We’ve talked about the challenges in infrastructure for a long time, but now we’ve finally gotten it done.

Make sure to sign up for our newsletter to get updates on how this bill will benefit Michigan and 8th district families.

Thanks for reading,

Rep. Elissa Slotkin