A Roadmap to Sustainable and Equitable Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

March 28, 2022

Overview

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” (IIJA/P.L. 117-58), signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021, represents a historic investment to restore the country’s crumbling infrastructure and create millions of good-paying union jobs. IIJA also takes many important steps to confront the climate crisis, including investments to upgrade transit systems, electrify school buses and ports, and improve grid resilience. The bipartisan infrastructure law also includes the largest ever U.S. investment in water infrastructure to remediate lead pipes and clean up toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, more than $5 billion to reduce wildfire risk and restore forest ecosystems, and $7.5 billion to build out a nationwide electric vehicle (EV) charging network. 1 To ensure the law helps achieve President Biden’s emissions reduction goals by 2050, there are a number of important steps the Administration can take. The transportation sector is the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, it is important to ensure that the law is not implemented in a way that results in more vehicles miles traveled. Successful implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure law requires maximizing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reductions and achieving President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, a government-wide pledge to commit 40 percent of federal investments to disadvantaged communities. To accomplish this second goal, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must issue final guidance as soon as possible that includes both quantitative and qualitative metrics to assess agencies’ progress.