Over the weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which, according to Axios, includes massive investments in roads, bridges and waterways, among other “hard infrastructure” provisions.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $110 billion towards roads, bridges and other much-needed infrastructure fix-ups across the country, $66 billion for rail services, $21 billion in environmental remediation, $39 billion to modernize transit, $25 billion for airports, and more. The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Following the passage in the House, however, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow said, “The passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is both significant and long overdue. The bill will have a profound impact on how people travel for decades to come. By making historic investments in our transportation infrastructure now, we can emerge from the pandemic with stronger, more modern and efficient systems that can facilitate a resurgence in travel demand.
“U.S. Travel has strongly advocated for this important piece of legislation and championed these important policies for years. The historic levels of travel infrastructure investment provided by this act—including for airports, railways, highways, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and more—will accelerate the future of travel mobility.
“The bill also establishes a chief travel and tourism officer at the Department of Transportation to help coordinate travel and tourism policy across all modes of transportation. This role will be vital for rebuilding our industry and preparing to welcome back visitors from around the world.
Separately, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) President and CEO Chip Rogers noted the bill contains some wins and some losses for the industry.
He said, “Reliable and modern infrastructure is vital to the hotel industry because it facilitates travel, commerce and American competitiveness. This package would go a long way toward achieving those ends, but it comes at a steep cost. The bill would terminate the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) two months early. Many hotels and their employees are counting on this program—especially given lingering COVID-19 concerns and the negative economic impact they are having on hotels. While we strongly support investment in our nation’s infrastructure, struggling hotel employees and small businesses should not be forced to bear that cost, and AHLA will continue advocating to maintain programs that are helping hoteliers through the pandemic.”
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