by Don Le
San Jose State community members expressed approval towards President Joe Biden’s Nov. 15 signing of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law.
“The infrastructure bill has been a long time coming. Infrastructure is such a vital need for our country, but it’s always been put on the back burner. I’m really happy to see that there was money allocated towards wildfire protection, because that hits close to home here in California,” said political science senior Katy Jensen in a Nov. 16 Instagram message.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, includes funding for improved access to broadband internet, more electric vehicle chargers across the country, repairs and improvements to America’s roads, bridges, rails, according to a White House fact sheet on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.
“As President [Barack] Obama said, you know, really the internet should be part of the utility package, right? Everybody should have access [to the internet] … you can hardly do anything now in society without the Internet. So, this is fantastic. It really is like having electricity in one’s home. This is going to really mean a lot for people that don’t have access to it,”,” said Dr. Anthony Chow, Director for San Jose State’s School of Information.
Mr. Obama said that the internet should be a utility in Nov. 2014, according to the White House archives. A utility is a service (such as a supply of electricity or water) that is provided to the public, according to Merriam-Webster.
Jensen concurred saying the increase in broadband coverage will facilitate better online learning for SJSU students’ access to tools such as Duo and Canvas.
“The increase in broadband coverage can really help out students who don’t have access to the internet and are disconnected from the online campus community. We rely heavily on services like Canvas or Duo for our schoolwork, and this increase in coverage is a significant change that will improve the lives of college students everywhere,” said Jensen.
The infrastructure bill will directly fund improvements to San Jose’s aging electrical grid, electric vehicle infrastructure, and “will enable the region to move forward with a $7 billion extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to Downtown San Jose and Silicon Valley, the $2 billion electrification of Caltrain, and a $468 million extension of light rail”, according to a Nov. 15 press release by San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo.
Dr. Chow approved of the increase in electric vehicle chargers.
“My wife and I both, you know, are pretty high in our careers but just the affordability of vehicles now, it’s still out of reach… so this kind of funding should make it more normalized so that the average American can afford an electric vehicle. Just that alone is going to mean more accessibility to those types of vehicles which is going to, of course, [mean] there are going to be less gas-driven cars.
San Jose State psychology junior Cathy Tran said she is more enticed to buy an electric vehicle now after seeing the increased federal funding for them.
“I love hearing about the funding for electric vehicle chargers. It definitely gives me more of an incentive to buy one now. I know a ton of friends that own Teslas and they love them,” said Tran.
As a state, California will receive $25.3 billion from the infrastructure bill over five years for repairing roads, $4.2 billion over five years for repairing bridges, $3.5 billion for water infrastructure and eliminating lead pipes in the state, $1.5 billion for airport infrastructure, $384 million over five years to build a network of chargers for electric vehicles, at least $100 million to install more broadband coverage, $84 million over five years for wildfire protection, $40 million over five years for cyber-attack protection and an unnamed sum from a $3.5 billion federal fund for “weatherization which will reduce energy costs for families” according to an Aug. 4 White House fact sheet for the infrastructure bill.
The bill adds $550 billion in newly authorized federal spending over 10 years since some of the expenditures in the package were already planned, according to a Nov. 15 Mercury News article.
President Biden’s original plan to Build Back Better was to make community college free. When its budget was reduced from $3.5 trillion to about $1.75 trillion, many programs were eliminated, including the actual plan to make community college free.
Jensen expressed disappointment that some aspects of Mr. Biden’s original proposal in March 2021 were cut as the bill made its way through the legislative process in Congress.
“I am sad to see that free community college was struck from the bill that passed. This was a major way to help students save for transferring to a four year [college], because only a handful of community college students do so. I’d like to see the House introduce a bill to address that soon.”
The U.S. House of Representatives expects to have enough votes to pass Mr. Biden’s second proposed bill, the Build Back Better Act by the end of the week, according to a Nov. 17 Reuters article.
The $1.75 Trillion proposal will increase the social safety net for Americans by increasing the maximum Pell Grant by $550 reducing prescription drug costs, expanding Medicare to cover hearing benefits, and giving parents more tax cuts per child.
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