North Dakota’s U.S. senators responded to the U.S. House of Representatives passage of the bipartisan infrastructure package last week.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure and member of the Senate Budget Committee, said:

“The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is the right thing to do for North Dakota and our country, as it confronts the inflation and supply chain problems facing every American. Unlike the Democrat’s wasteful, partisan tax and spending spree, the hard infrastructure deal makes long overdue investments in the roads and bridges every American uses and is fully paid for. Washington has long promised to prioritize our nation’s vast infrastructure needs, yet partisan politics have stood in the way of common sense. House Democrats should have never held hard infrastructure hostage, and they should have never linked it to their sprawling, socialist wish list. These two bills are separate and yesterday’s votes proved it. Bipartisan common sense prevailed while House Democrats were unable to cobble together the votes to pass a proposal they know does not have the full support from their own party, not to mention the American people. Thankfully, one will now become law, while the other will have to stand on its own flimsy merits. President Biden and moderate Democrats should take the win and move away from the socialist, unserious proposals the American people do not want, do not need, and cannot afford.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said:

“This legislation is actually the regular highway bill with additional support for traditional hard infrastructure like roads, bridges, rail, airports, and broadband. Also, importantly it does not raise taxes and has pay-fors including repurposing of COVID-19 funds.

“This infrastructure bill is now decoupled from the separate tax and spend bill proposed by the Democrats. That reckless tax-and-spend bill has not been passed by either the House or the Senate. We strongly oppose that legislation and will continue working to stop it. Americans are already facing higher costs due to record high inflation, and the partisan tax-and-spend proposal will only exacerbate the problem. As debate continues on the tax-and-spend proposal, which has not passed in either the House or the Senate, we’ll continue to work to defeat it.”

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1.2 trillion bill with $550 billion in new spending over the next five years.

Specific benefits to North Dakota, according to information provided by Hoeven’s office, include:

– $2.5 billion for constructing flood mitigation projects across the country, which would help with projects like the Red River Valley permanent flood protection and Minot region flood protection project.

– $1.7 billion over five years for North Dakota’s roads, bridges, and highways, about $500 million more than North Dakota received over five years under the FAST Act, including $225 million for bridge construction and rehabilitation.

– The DRIVE-Safe Act that would help address the shortage of truck drivers by establishing a pilot program to allow 18-20-year-olds to obtain a commercial driver’s license and truck goods across state lines.

– The HAULS Act to provide needed relief to livestock haulers by expanding the hours of service agricultural exemption to exclude a 150-air mile radius around the destination of the trip.

– The REGROW Act to plug and remediate the nation’s orphaned wells.