Airport Alert: House Passes Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Measure Moves to President to be Signed into Law

While infrastructure has long been seen as one of the last remaining bipartisan issues in Washington, the path to enactment for a major infrastructure bill this Congress was always considered dicey, particularly given the slim Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate. Still, in late March, in an effort to fulfill a key campaign priority, President Biden released his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, which kickstarted infrastructure negotiations with Senate Republicans. While these initial negotiations quickly came to an impasse due to irreconcilable positions on the size, scope and pay-fors, subsequent negotiations between the White House and a bipartisan group of senators proved more productive. After weeks of painstaking negotiations over this summer, the Senate passed the BIB in August with broad bipartisan support.

However, instead of quickly passing the BIB following Senate action, Democratic leaders continued to politically link the BIB with a larger, reconciliation package, which they coined the "two-track process." While this strategy was conjured as a way to unite both wings of the Democratic Party to support both pieces of legislation, it instead led to months of contentious infighting between moderates and progressives. This fall, House Leadership, not once, but twice, scheduled votes on the BIB, only to pull the votes later due to progressives withholding their support until the reconciliation package was finalized. It took huge losses by Democrats in off-year elections for House leadership to ultimately break the logjam and pass the BIB.

All of that said, today's passage of the BIB, and the $20 billion in new federal spending for airport infrastructure that comes with it over the next five years, represents a historic investment in airport infrastructure. This, combined with the COVID-19 federal relief secured over the last 18 months, have resulted in $40 billion in federal support for airports outside of traditional funding. This success story is directly related to persistent efforts from airports, both large and small, to reach out and advocate to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. We are grateful for your continued support and engagement. We will be sure to provide more details as we learn how the BIB will be implemented going forward.

Build Back Better Reconciliation Package

In order to unlock progressive support to get the BIB across the finish line, the House also passed a rule that would tee up debate on the reconciliation bill in the future. Additionally, progressives demanded that moderates provide them concrete assurances that they will vote, by the week of November 15 for the reconciliation package in its current form as long as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirms the $1.75 trillion price tag. While House moderates ultimately agreed to these stipulations, they remain hesitant to support controversial provisions in the House reconciliation package given that the legislation will likely undergo further changes when it is considered by the Senate. We will keep you apprised of further updates on the Build Back Better legislation."