Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 7-2-21

Political
U. S. Justice Department Sues Georgia Over Election Laws
Here's What's Included In
The Biden Justice Depart- ment has announced that it will sue the state of Georgia over new voting laws passed in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Attorney General Mer- rick Garland said the laws were "enacted with the pur- pose of denying or abridging the right of black Georgians to vote".
Republicans, who control Georgia's state legislature, say the restrictions stream- line voting procedures.
Mr. Garland also issued a mandate to prosecute threats to election workers.
It amounts to the first major action the Biden ad- ministration has taken in re- sponse to a wave of voting restrictions passed in Repub- lican-led states.
Responding to the an- nouncement, Georgia Gover- nor Brian Kemp said the lawsuit "is born out of the lies and misinformation the
The Infrastructure Deal That
Biden Struck With Senators
ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND
Biden administration has pushed against" the state vot- ing law.
In a statement, Secretary of State Brad Raf- fensperger said: "I look for- ward to meeting them, and beating them, in court."
President Biden has called the Georgia law "a bla- tant attack on the Constitu- tion".
After weeks of negotia- tions, President Biden and a bipartisan group of sena- tors have announced a deal on infrastructure spending.
The agreement focuses on investments in roads, rail- ways, bridges and broadband internet, but it does not in- clude investments Biden has referred to as "human infra- structure," including money allocated for child care and tax credits for families.
According to the White House, the price tag comes in at $1.2 trillion over eight years, with more than $500 billion in new spending. How the measure would be paid for was a central point in ne- gotiations, with Republicans opposed to undoing any of the 2017 tax cuts.
Here's a look at what's in- cluded in the agreement, ac- cording to the White House fact sheet:
Transportation: $312 billion
Roads, bridges, major projects: $109 billion
Safety: $11 billion
Public transit: $49 billion Passenger and freight rail:
$66 billion
Electric vehicles: $7.5 bil-
lion
Electric buses/transit:
$7.5 billion
Reconnecting communi-
ties: $1 billion Airports: $25 billion
Ports and waterways: $16 billion
Infrastructure financing: $20 billion
Other infrastructure: $266 billion
Water: $55 billion Broadband: $65 billion
Environmental remedia- tion: $21 billion
Power, including grid au- thority: $73 billion
Western water storage: $5 billion
President Biden, joined by a group of senators, gets ready to de- liver remarks Thursday at the White House after reaching a biparti- san deal on an infrastructure package.
Resilience: $47 billion
Goals of the plan
The White House said the plan, known currently as "The Bipartisan Infrastruc- ture Framework" would, ac- cording to the fact sheet:
Improve healthy, sustain- able transportation options for millions of Americans by modernizing and expanding transit and rail networks across the country, while re- ducing greenhouse gas emis- sions.
Repair and rebuild roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity and safety for all users, including cy- clists and pedestrians.
Build a national network of electric vehicle chargers along highways and in rural and disadvantaged commu- nities.
Electrify thousands of school and transit buses across the country to reduce harmful emissions and drive domestic manufacturing of zero emission vehicles and components.
Eliminate the nation's lead service lines and pipes, deliv- ering clean drinking water to up to 10 million American families and more than 400,000 schools and child
care facilities that currently don't have it, including in tribal nations and disadvan- taged communities.
Connect every American to reliable high-speed inter- net.
Upgrade the power infra- structure, including by build- ing thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expan- sion of renewable energy, in- cluding through a new grid authority.
Create a first-of-its-kind In- frastructure Financing Au- thority that will leverage billions of dollars into clean transportation and clean en- ergy.
Make the largest invest- ment in addressing legacy pollution in American his- tory.
Prepare more infrastruc- ture for impacts of climate change, cyberattacks and ex- treme weather events.
How would they pay for it?
The White House said the plan will be paid for with un- used coronavirus relief funds, unused unemployment in- surance and sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, among other measures.
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