FLORIDA, USA — The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed by Congress last week was seen as a huge victory for the Biden administration. And as the law awaits the president's signature, details of the plan have been slowly trickling out.
Here in Florida, the state could receive around $13 billion in federal funds to repair its aging highways and $2.6 billion over five years to improve public transportation options, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.
The same fact sheet says there are 408 bridges and more than 3,500 miles of highway that are in poor condition in Florida. It doesn't help that since 2011, commute times across the state have increased by 11.6 percent.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis feels the state was short-changed in the deal. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the governor accused Congress of giving a "disproportionate amount of money" to states like New York and New Jersey. At the same time, DeSantis said he still had to "look into" the details of Florida's share.
"Is Florida being treated well in this? Or [is Congress] basically funneling money to a bunch of very high tax and dysfunctional states," DeSantis said.
Some notable Senate Republicans like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted in favor of the infrastructure bill. However, Florida senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott did not.
Florida's infrastructure was recently graded a "C" by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The report said a majority of the state's funding for infrastructure was focused on maintenance and repairs instead of long-term projects, like resilience to sea-level rise.
Some of the other investments Florida will receive over the next five years from the infrastructure bill include:
- $1.2 billion for infrastructure development for airports over five years.
- $245 million for bridge replacement and repairs over five years.
- $198 million to supper the expansion of an electric vehicle charging network in the state.
- $100 million to provide broadband coverage across the state – the White House says, currently, 707,000 Floridians lack coverage.
- $26 million to protect against wildfires.
- $29 million to protect against cyberattacks.
- The state will also receive an unspecified amount of the $3.5 billion national investment in weatherization to reduce energy costs.
- $1.6 billion to improve water infrastructure.
Exactly how these funds will be distributed across the state has not been outlined just yet.