Vermont to receive $2.2B from federal infrastructure bill

By Brent Addleman | The Center Square

Vermont is poised to receive one of the highest infusions of federal money in history, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said.

Sanders, I-Vt., announced in a news release the state will receive $2.2 billion over the next five years as part of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which he voted for in August before the bill was passed by a 228-206 margin in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday.

Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

“As a member of the Environment and Public Works committee I fought hard to ensure Vermont got its fair share in the infrastructure bill,” Sanders said in the release. “The federal investment will not just repair our roads and bridges, but will help clean up Vermont’s drinking water supply, increase access to affordable, reliable internet service, help transition our public transit systems away from fossil fuels and create many good paying jobs.”

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the infrastructure bill will increase the federal budget deficit by $256 billion over 10 years.

The Green Mountain State is set to receive one of the highest payouts per capita in the nation at $3,600 per resident under the bill, which features $1.4 billion for highways, $225 million for bridges, $77 million for transportation, $355 million for water infrastructure projects and an additional $167 million.

Gov. Phil Scott praised the bill’s passage, which now moves to the desk of President Joe Biden.

“This bill, with support from both sides of the aisle, is a very important step forward for our country and will significantly benefit our state,” Scott said in a news release. “We are making progress in these areas, but there is more to do, and this new funding will make sure we can recover stronger than ever before, increasing economic equity and opportunity for working families and kids in every corner of our state.”

U.S. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., supported the bill’s passage and said its benefits will run “wide and deep” across the state.

“The Senate acted more than two months ago to pass this meaningful legislation,” Leahy said in a news release. “Final enactment should not have taken this long. Finally the House has now taken action, and the President can sign this bill into law. It is time for us to get to work and get shovels in the ground in Vermont and across the country.

“Now our attention can turn to additional legislative work to deliver even more needed resources to our communities and to our families, as well as to address the mounting climate crisis. For too long, we have neglected critical domestic priorities. The time for dallying is over. Let’s get to work.”

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore

13 thoughts on “Vermont to receive $2.2B from federal infrastructure bill

  1. ELON MUSK MOCKING BERNIE

    Fast forwarding to today, Nov. 14, when in this most surreal and absurd of timelines, in response to the latest demand from Dem/Prog socialists to redistribute wealth in a way that’s “fair”, or in other words, in a way that “Socialists” find most beneficial to their own selfish interests, when failed presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, 80, said “we must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period”…

    … Elon Musk pulled off his best “Donald-Trump-at-twitter” impression by responding, as only the world’s richest man would: “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.”

    And just in case Musk still had any democrat/progressive/liberal supporters left, Musk hinted that he was happy to send TSLA stock sliding even more, perhaps until such time as it dragged the broader market down with it, when he said “Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …”

    So far Bernie – who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, and as a life-long Socialist, has long demand that the wealthy should pay more taxes, tweeting in March that the amount of wealth accumulated by Musk and Jeff Bezos was “immoral” – has not “said the word”, although we are confident the outraged army of blue-check op-ed writer cabal at the fake media WaPo/NYT/CNN won’t have a problem saying lots of words in the coming days.

  2. How about investing in our “social infrastructure” by refunding the state pension system with this TAXPAYER windfall??

    • That has been attempted by states with other bills, including the Covid relief bills of 2020.
      Hopefully it was barred from this bill-but may be in the next “Build Back Better” bill.
      To bail out blue-states and their legislatures from doing their jobs is folly for the taxpayer, whatever party one aligns with. Vermont particularly, made a promise on pensions as a condition of employment and right or wrong, the Vermont legislature needs to properly fund and keep the promise. Then, the legislature needs to never do it again. State employees and teachers need to accept the same pension systems business uses, 401K’s, Simples, etc.
      Business nationwide abandoned the defined benefit plan decades ago- because these benefit plans were to expensive. State employees and teachers already receive health care plans far better than what’s available to other Vermont residents- and the taxpayer foots the majority of the bill.
      Just to add salt to the wound, the BBB (reconciliation) bill not yet voted on, contains verbiage increasing the SALT (state and local tax) deduction cap. Helps the wealthy to deduct more of their property and income tax burden. A nice tax break for those living in Malibu mansions- or similar wealthy towns in Vermont.

  3. Leaky, “It is time for us to get to work and get shovels in the ground in Vermont and across the country.”
    Gosh Pat, just where are you finding the workers for all these projects for our state? We cant even find workers for plow trucks or school buses and all of a sudden we have a plethora of heavy equipment operators???

    • James,

      If you throw enough money at anything, you can draw workers from all over the US, and from all over the world.

      The spending will expand our centralized command/control government even more.

      Career Dem/Prog bureaucrats will be running the government programs, because Republicans are too busy running their private enterprises that produce goods and services.

      The spending will worsen:

      1) HIGH INFLATION eating away at savings and spendable incomes; gas at $3.50/gal and food prices soaring.

      2) ) WALK-IN OPEN BORDERS TO PURPOSELY ALTER THE US DEMOGRAPHICS with millions per year of illiterate, unskilled, sickly, often criminal, undocumented, illegals, just walking across RECENTLY opened borders, who will get a head-start by sucking on Social Security, Medicaid and other government programs.

      They will be indoctrinated to to become Dem/Prog voters, forever.
      They will join the tens of millions, legal and illegal, who already are sucking on government programs.

      3) Record-high federal deficits.

      4) Record-high US national debts

      5) Record-high US trade deficits

      • The Legislature is dominated by Dem/ Progs

        However, this does not mean the Dem/Prog state government EMPLOYEES have to have the same dominance.

        The state government has to serve ALL Vermonters in an impartial manner

        At present, the Vermont government employees are about 80% Dem/Prog.

        That means any meetings will be headed by Dem/Progs, and decisions likely will be one-sided.

        If, the employee ratio became 50% Dem/Prog and 50% Republican, each meeting would be headed by a Dem/Prog or a Republican, on a legally required, alternating basis.

        Each meeting would have a range viewpoints and decisions would be balanced.

        Democracy and sanity would be improved.

  4. Did we ever get a answer on what infrastructure was repaired under the last
    “shovel ready jobs” that bydone was in charge of (obama admin’s give away)???

    Will there be greater oversight on this give away???? Socialist and tax money is not a good mix..

  5. Vermont’s very own Socialist Senator in sheer jubilation, too bad he never mentioned
    that this money will strap generations of Vermonter’s in debt to the federal government.

    I hope Vermonter’s keep an eye on this windfall ” AKA ” Federal investment, and see just
    how much if really used as stated, like everything else Bernie touches, this to will turn to
    S**T……..socialist programs.

    Don’t forget to tell your kids & grandkids thanks, as they will be paying for this boondoggle
    until they are in the ground !!

  6. Bernie crows that Vermont is to receive the one of the highest infusions of federal money in history……Thanks we can all presume is do to do Bernie’s own socialist vision, which is handing out free money to all…….Supposedly $3,600 to each Vermonter in this case.

    Of course none of this money goes directly to individual Vermonters, it supposedly goes to building roads, bridges and transportation. Infrastructure that regular Vermonters will not be able to fully use because of Joe Biden’s inflationary Build, Back, Better policies, spiraling oil and gas prices brought on by Biden’s failed energy policies and raging everyday inflation impacting all household costs arising from Biden’s general economic policies and poor overall management…….Massive inflation costs that are emptying Vermonter’s pockets will limit what they can do, including motoring on new highways and bridges.

    Under Biden and Bernie, Vermonters are experiencing the worse inflation in 40 years. It’s ravaging household budgets……And oh, Vermonters and their kids will be handed the bill in the form of trillions more added to the national debt……..Vermonter’s, the $3,600 cited by Bernie won’t be in your wallet any time soon….or ever.

  7. Crap my comment got posted before I was done. I wanted it to say;

    Woo hoo more BS from BS a self avowed “Democrat Socialist”, whom is really a sad angry little Marxist Communist who has talked up a storm & whined & moaned for fourty plus years about millionaires and billionaires but just billionaires now & has somehow gotten rich off of Public Office & has been allowed to get away with falsely taking Oaths to both VT State, & the USA Constitutions. I say falsely because he is Communist which Ideologically permanently opposed to All of our freedoms, Bill of Rights, current laws, and is an Ideology that seeks the destruction of America & the Free World so they can have their evil utopia. Bernie honeymooned in the Communist USSR saw bread lines and thought they were “a Good Thing”! Everything they lied about & accused President Trump of doing, including Bernie, the leftists are doing, have done, did, or are planning it and usually much much worse.

    Lets go Brandon!
    I wonder if that works for Done Zero Ever Bernie also? The meaning would have to change from FJB to FBS!!

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