WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) applauded the passage of the INVEST in America Act, a five-year, $715 billion surface transportation and water infrastructure bill, which includes a number of her provisions to support working families and ensure a stronger infrastructure.
The INVEST in America Act includes several provisions authored and championed by Dingell, including legislation to help families access affordable and clean drinking water, advance electric vehicle deployment and build charging infrastructure, advance technology to reduce drunk driving deaths, invest in clean energy projects, fund the replacement of the Miller Road and Rotunda Drive bridges in Dearborn, Michigan, combat climate change, and restore our public lands.
“We need to invest in the infrastructure of the future, not the past,” said Rep. Dingell. “This surface transportation reauthorization legislation, which also includes my provisions to ensure all Americans have access to clean and affordable drinking water, will support domestic manufacturing and good-paying jobs, transition our nation to a clean energy economy, repair our crumbling infrastructure, and put us on track for robust economic growth long-term.”
The INVEST in America Act includes the following legislation authored by Dingell:
- Provisions from the Water Debt Relief Act that establishes a $4 billion dollar residential emergency relief program thorough the EPA for public water systems to forgive any debt incurred by struggling households since the start to the COVID-19 pandemic, helping many in frontline communities. It would also prevent water systems from cutting any of these households off from clean water.
- The Low-Income Water Customer Assistance Program Act, which would establish a permanent, long-term water assistance program to address the growing water debt crisis nationwide.
- A provision intended to keep drunk drivers off the road by requiring the commercialization and standards for passive alcohol detection systems in all new cars, as originally proposed in Dingell’s Honoring Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate (HALT) Drunk Driving Act which she introduced after a Michigan family was tragically killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
- The Sport Fish Restoration, Recreational Boating Safety, and Wildlife Restoration Act of 2021, which provides funding for fishery projects, boating access, and aquatic education by reauthorizing the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund through 2025.
- Dingell’s top Surface and Transportation community project funding request, $20 million to replace the Miller Road and Rotunda Drive bridges in Dearborn, Michigan.
Dingell also authored and led a number of policies all of which were included through the amendment process, to strengthen this bill by establishing a Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator, providing new manufacturing incentives for electric vehicles, and making it clear that Congress needs to establish a federal regulatory framework for the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles. Below is a full summary of each of Dingell’s adopted amendments:
- Establishing an independent non-profit fund, known as the Clean Energy and Sustainably Accelerator (Accelerator), and is authorized with federal funds as necessary spread over a six-year period. The Accelerator would bolster and expand a robust clean energy workforce, invest in infrastructure projects, and help establish green banks nationwide to leverage private co-investment for financing clean energy projects to rapidly transition to a clean economy.
- Grow U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing jobs, production, and deployment and encourage the investment and expansion in the necessary EV charging infrastructure through the inclusion of provisions in Dingell’s U.S.A. Electrify Forward Act. Specifically, it would establish new domestic manufacturing retooling grants, require updating building codes, help electrify all forms of transportation, and accelerate the deployment of EV charging stations.
- Expressing the Sense of the U.S. House of Representatives that Congress, in broad consultation with labor, safety groups, industry, and other stakeholders, should begin establishing a federal regulatory framework for the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles nationwide that will support existing jobs and grow the U.S. workforce of the future-including good union jobs, keep the United States on the forefront of this technology, and keep our country competitive around the globe.
###
