Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
OCTOBER 21, 2021
Subject
SUBJECT: STATE AND FEDERAL REPORT
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE October 2021 State and Federal Legislative Report.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Executive Management Committee
Remarks Prepared by Raffi Haig Hamparian
Government Relations Senior Director, Federal Affairs
Chair Solis and members of the Executive Management Committee, I am pleased to update several federal matters of interest to our agency. This report was prepared on October 5, 2021, and will be updated, as appropriate, at the Executive Management Committee meeting on October 21, 2021. The status of relevant pending legislation is monitored on the Metro Government Relations Legislative Matrix, updated monthly.
As has been widely reported in the press, Congressional Democrats and White House officials are continuing to try and forge a framework agreement for a reconciliation bill that would fund key elements of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and House Speaker Pelosi have all indicated they now hope to build consensus around a more modest reconciliation framework closer to $2 trillion, down from the previous target of $3.5 trillion.
The hope is that if all sides can come together around a reconciliation bill, it would unlock the votes necessary to pass the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which includes the traditional 5-year surface transportation reauthorization, as well as $548 billion in new funding to address a broad spectrum of infrastructure needs.
Despite a previously agreed to date of September 27, 2021 for a House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, this date was pushed down the road when it became clear that the bill did not have the votes necessary to advance in a closely divided House.
Metro is encouraged that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ...
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