Press Releases

Kuster Attends White House Signing Ceremony for Bipartisan Infrastructure Package

**The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is estimated to create nearly 20 million jobs over the next decade and provide $100 million in funding for rural broadband deployment in NH**

Washington, November 15, 2021

  

Washington, D.C. — Today, Representative Annie Kuster (NH-02) joined President Biden at the White House for the bill signing ceremony for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to rebuild America’s infrastructure and deliver historic investments in rural communities that will create good-paying jobs and deploy broadband to underserved areas in New Hampshire.

 

“This is a tremendous day for our country, and I was proud to represent Granite Staters at the signing into law of the bipartisan infrastructure package,” said Rep. Kuster. “From bolstering broadband access in our rural communities to repairing our roads and bridges, this bipartisan legislation comes at a critical time for American families, our economy, and communities in New Hampshire and throughout the United States. The legislation President Biden signed into law today is a game-changer for Granite Staters, and will keep our country’s infrastructure competitive, create millions of jobs, and support hardworking families.”

 

This legislation will bring much-needed funding to New Hampshire to:

  • Repair Roads and Bridges: $1.1 billion in federal highway funds and $225 million for bridge repairs to keep our critical infrastructure safe.  
  • Broaden Access to Commuter Rail: $66 billion nationally for federal rail investments. This funding will help improve the existing Amtrak service in New Hampshire and provide the state with additional federal resources to build the Capitol Corridor Project.
    • The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides $250 million to cover credit risk premiums for Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans. This will make it more affordable for states like New Hampshire to use RRIF as a source of funding for passenger rail projects and was inspired by Rep. Kuster’s bipartisan Invest in American Railroad Act. 
  • Deliver on Broadband Expansion: $100 million to expand broadband coverage around the state to help Granite Staters stay connected.
  • Deliver Clean Drinking Water: New Hampshire is expected to receive $418 million over the next five years to improve water infrastructure across the state. With some municipalities operating with water infrastructure over 100 years old, this historic investment will deliver important resources to New Hampshire communities in need. 
  • Lower Energy Costs for Families: This bipartisan legislation invests $3.5 billion nationally into the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which lowers home energy costs for lower-income families in New Hampshire.
  • Reimagine Our Nation’s Dams: $2.4 billion federal investment in rehabilitating, retrofitting, and removing dams to improve dam safety, increase hydropower production to reduce carbon emissions, and remove dams to enhance the health of river ecosystems.
    • Many of the dam investments are based on Rep. Kuster’s bipartisan Twenty-First Century Dams Act. 
  • Address Climate Change: $65 billion to modernize our electric grid for a clean electricity future, $7.5 billion to build out a national network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure to help us decarbonize the transportation sector, $4.7 billion to reduce methane emissions by plugging old oil wells, and $3.5 billion to advance direct air capture technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  

 

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