: Biden to sign bipartisan infrastructure bill into law, authorizing big spending on roads, broadband, EV chargers and more

The measure has an overall price tag of about $1 trillion, with around $550 billion in new public-works spending above what already was expected in future federal investments. Its spending includes $110 billion for roads, bridges and major projects; $66 billion for passenger and freight rail; $65 billion for broadband; and $7.5 billion for charging stations for electric vehicles.

See: Here’s what’s in the bipartisan infrastructure bill — and how it’s paid for

Also: How the infrastructure bill’s $65 billion in broadband spending will be doled out

Hopes for more infrastructure spending often have been dashed in recent years, turning “Infrastructure Week” into a joke in Washington, but the country’s politicians finally delivered this fall. In the spring, U.S. infrastructure had received an average grade of C minus in a 2021 report card released by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The infrastructure bill passed the Democratic-controlled Senate in a 69-30 vote on Aug. 10, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell among the 19 Republicans who supported the measure. It cleared the Democratic-run House of Representatives on Nov. 5 in a 228-206 vote, with 13 House Republicans backing it.

Infrastructure stocks, as tracked by the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF 
PAVE,
-0.36%,
 have gained 36% this year, topping the broad S&P 500 equity index’s
SPX,
-0.10%
 advance of 25%.

Following the push on traditional infrastructure, Biden and his fellow Democrats now are renewing their focus on advancing their party’s $1.75 trillion social-spending and climate package, known as the Build Back Better plan.