Cassidy, Republicans Strike Infrastructure Agreement with Democrats, White House

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), one of the five lead Republican negotiators and a member of the bipartisan Group of 22 Senators, and the White House reached an agreement today to invest in American’s critical infrastructure needs. Cassidy released the following statement on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act after striking the agreement:

“We got an agreement for the Americans and Louisianans who are tired of their long commutes, who are tired of not having enough flooding protection, and they want relief. This is a great deal to help Louisiana. Louisiana has been impacted more than any other state by flooding and natural disasters these past few years. In addition to billions for roads and bridges it includes $47 billion dollars to address resiliency and protect communities. This is the largest investment in roads, bridges, broadband, and our coastline in the history of our state. This is a huge win for Louisiana,” said Dr. Cassidy. 

In addition to supplemental spending, the bipartisan bill reauthorizes critical federal programs for investments in roads and highways and water and wastewater infrastructure at the highest ever levels of funding. It would fund more than $6 billion for Louisiana’s roads and highways. Louisiana has 1,634 bridges and over 3,411 miles of highway in poor condition. Commute times are up 9.3 percent since 2011 and bad roads result in an average cost to drivers of $667 per year. This will authorize $6 billion in highway funding for Louisiana over five years. It also authorizes $371 million to Louisiana for water revolving funds. Specifically, this provides over $371 million over five years for Louisiana through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund program and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. 

The funding outlined in the bullets below is entirely new spending on top of baseline spending, that is what would have been spent on traditional infrastructure in the absence of this legislation.

Louisiana will benefit from the $312 billion to rebuild America’s transportation infrastructure, including $110 billion for roads and bridges. Cassidy also pushed for the inclusion of $47 billion for resiliency that will go in part to rebuild Louisiana’s eroded coastlines and waterways and $73 billion for energy infrastructure. The bill will also invest in broadband to expand internet access to tens of thousands of Louisianans who current do not have access.

Cassidy secured the inclusion of the following provisions to benefit Louisiana:

• Eliminates federal red-tape by reforming the permitting process to speed construction projects: Builds on the Federal Permitting Council’s efforts to shorten the government approval process for large infrastructure projects by bringing relevant agencies together to reduce inefficiencies.
• $40 Billion for bridges: As a state, Louisiana has the third most bridge deck area in poor condition. This funding will rebuild Louisiana’s bridges, many of which are rated as poor or structurally deficient.
• Invests in Louisiana’s Airports: The bill includes $25 billion for airport improvement projects such as expansions, installations, assisting with planning, rebuilding runways, improving lighting, and air navigation facilities throughout the state.
• $9.55 Billion for Ports and Waterways: This will benefit numerous Louisiana Ports and Waterways such as the Port of Calcasieu, Port Fourchon, Port of New Orleans, Port of Baton Rouge, Port of South Louisiana, Port of Plaquemines, and J. Bennett Johnston Waterway. 
• $3.2 Billion for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America Grant Program: This program supports crucial highway and rail projects. 
• $65 Billion for Broadband: This funding will expand internet access to Louisiana’s rural and low-income communities. 
• $500 Million for the STORM Act: This provides grants to establish a revolving fund to provide mitigation assistance to reduce risks from disasters and natural hazards. Such funds would provide funding assistance to local governments in States, including Louisiana, to carry out projects to reduce disaster risks for homeowners, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and communities in order to decrease the loss of life and property, the cost of insurance claims, and federal disaster payments.
• $7.5 Billion for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Grants: These grantssupport transportation projects of local and regional significance. 
• $3.5 Billion for Flood Mitigation Assistance grants: These grants are used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In the last fiscal year, one-third of applications for this program came from Louisiana.
• $16.9 Billion for Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure priorities: This includes $2.55 billion for construction of Coastal Storm Risk Management and Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction projects specifically targeting states such as Louisiana that have been impacted by federally declared disasters over the last six years. Additional Louisiana projects that will benefit from these dollars include the Southwest Coastal Louisiana and Morganza to the Gulf Projects and $109 million for Louisiana Corps Federal projects to dredge and repair damages caused by Hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta. There’s $808 million for Mississippi Rivers and Tributaries and $251 million for Flood and Coastal Emergencies, which directly benefit Louisiana. 
• $53 Million for Lake Pontchartrain: Lake Pontchartrain will receive this funding over five years to support local restoration efforts.
• $2.25 Billion for the Port Infrastructure Development Program: This grant program provides funding to improve port facilities, a top priority for Louisiana ports.
• $491 Million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Community Based Restoration Program: This funding invests in coastal resiliency projects through a habitat restoration program that helps protect the safety and well-being of coastal communities, like those in Louisiana, by buffering shorelines from erosion, reducing flooding, and removing potentially hazardous structures.
• $492 Million for NOAA National Coastal Resilience Fund: This funding will improve the resilience of coastal communities to flooding by restoring or expanding natural ecosystems while enhancing fish and wildlife habitats and increasing protection for communities from coastal hazards.
• $492 Million for NOAA Flood Mapping, Observations, and Modeling: This funding will update and improve mapping and modeling to get a better picture of the risk of flooding in Louisiana and throughout the country. 
• $1 Billion for Building Resilient Infrastructures and Communities grants: These grants provide funding for pre-disaster mitigation funding for natural disasters including flooding.
• $5.1 Billion for the SCALE Act: The largest government investment in carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology. This includes $2.1 billion for a CO2 Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program to provide flexible, low-interest loans for CO2 transport infrastructure projects and grants for initial excess capacity on new infrastructure to facility future growth; $2.5 billion to expand the DOE’s Carbon Storage Validation and Testing program to include large-scale commercialization of new or expanded carbon sequestration projects; $300 million in grants to procure and use products derived from captured carbon oxides; $100 million for front-end engineering and design for carbon dioxide transport infrastructure; and $75 million for states to establish Class VI permitting programs to ensure rigorous and expedited CO2 geologic storage site permitting
• $3.5 Billion for weatherization grants for low-income people and communities.
• $4.67 Billion for orphan well remediation.
• $53 Million for Gulf of Mexico ecosystem restoration. 
• $60 Million for States in the Mississippi River and Ohio River Basins to support states’ Nutrient Reduction Strategies and fight hypoxia.
• Expansion of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to permit offshore energy storage. This provides flexibility to develop energy storage in in future energy development off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Cleaning Up Contaminated Sites: This bill provides $3.5 billion for cleanup at Superfund sites an increase in spending for remediation with a focus on projects of the greatest hazard to human health. Louisiana currently has 27 sites on the National Priorities List. 
• $1.5 Billion for Brownfields Grants: This funding will clean up and reinvest in properties complicated by the presence of hazardous substances or contaminants and prioritized by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. 
• $8 Billion for Hydrogen Hubs: This creates regional clean hydrogen hubs to demonstrate the production, processing, delivery, storage, and end-use of clean hydrogen. This program is tailor made for Louisiana’s industry, existing infrastructure, and energy sector.
• Geologic Carbon Sequestration on the Outer Continental Shelf: This allows the U.S. Department of the Interior to permit geologic carbon sequestration on the outer Continental Shelf and will unlock new industries for Louisiana and ensuring the ability to store carbon dioxide.
• $9.04 Billion for Demonstration Projects to support the development of key energy technologies including advanced nuclear reactors, carbon capture, critical minerals, energy storage, and industrial emissions infrastructure. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette recently received funding for a similar program.
• $6 Billion for the Civil Nuclear Credit Program: This section provides the U.S. Department of Energy with the authority, in consultation with the heads of applicable Federal agencies, to establish a process to evaluate bids through an auction process and select certified nuclear reactors to be allocated credits. This ensures vital existing nuclear sources like those in Louisiana are kept online and provide reliable, resilient, and clean energy.
• $8 Billion for Energy-Related Manufacturing: This expands American manufacturing of energy production equipment. 
• $3.5 Billion for Direct Air Capture Hubs for Carbon Removal: Develops regional direct air capture hubs to aid the capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This carves out a pathway for Louisiana to lead in carbon removal and decarbonization while maintaining and growing existing industries and infrastructure.
• $2.13 Billion for Ecosystem Restoration and Resiliency Funding to restore the ecological health of Federal lands and waters and private lands. Working with state partners, like Louisiana, this funding will advance coastal restoration and flood mitigation efforts.

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