Infrastructure bill a bipartisan triumph. DeSantis should accept funds Florida badly needs | Opinion

On Nov. 15, I was honored to see history made at the White House when President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law before an audience of Republican and Democrat lawmakers, governors, mayors — including Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava — as well as business and union leaders from across the country.

As a candidate, Biden campaigned on being able to reach across the aisle to get things done. As president, he has proven it with the passage and signing of the Infrastructure Act — a once-in-a-generation investment that will create millions of good-paying jobs, while modernizing the nation’s critical infrastructure. We should not squander the bipartisan leadership and goodwill forged during the passage of this bill. Instead, we should use it as a model to implement the law. Governors and mayors from both parties, business and union leaders should come together to make these historic infrastructure projects a reality.

Together, we will transform rail, roads, and bridges — as well as modernize maritime ports and airports. After receiving a “C” rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers, Florida is in line to receive more than $19 billion from the Infrastructure Act, and the funding could not come at a more pivotal time. Florida has more than 400 bridges and more than 3,500 miles of highway that are in extremely poor conditions and desperately in need of repair. Under the new law, Florida could receive more than $13 billion as part of the federal aid highway-apportionment programs and approximately $250 million for bridge replacements and repairs over five years. Florida also will receive approximately $1.2 billion for airport infrastructure development projects.

As Biden has said, we have the potential to turn the climate crisis into a real opportunity that puts us on a path to win the economic competition for the 21st century. Thanks to this bill, we are going to manufacture solar panels, wind farms, batteries and electric vehicles like never before. We will grow clean-energy supply chains for our domestic needs, as well as for exporting to the rest of the world. We are going to build out the first-ever national network of charging stations so families can travel coast to coast in electric vehicles.

With the Infrastructure Act, Florida alone will receive a minimum of $100 million to help provide high-speed affordable internet coverage across the state, including providing access to at least 700,000 Floridians who currently lack it. Moreover, 6.5 million, or almost a third of Florida’s population, will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Benefit, which will help low-income families afford badly needed internet access.

Furthermore, we are going to build up our resilience to extreme weather such as hurricanes, which have cost Floridians billions of dollars in damages in the past 10 years alone. Under the law, Florida will be able to draw on the $3.5 billion designated for a national weatherization program.

This law is both historic because of what’s in it as well as what it took to pass it. The bipartisan spirit of compromise and working with one another to deliver results is not just what the American people want, it’s what they deserve and so desperately need.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis has an opportunity to accept the new federal funding to invest in our state’s crumbling infrastructure, create real jobs and save billions of dollars in further losses. If DeSantis chooses not to act or — worse — outright rejects and squanders this opportunity, Florida’s Republican and Democratic county and municipal mayors need to work with the Biden administration to ensure we can deliver on this once-in-a-generation investment that undoubtedly will transform the infrastructure of our great state and materially improve the lives of all Floridians.

L. Felice Gorordo is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He served in the White House under Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 4:52 PM.