Baton Rouge mayor invited to Washington, D.C. for signing of $1T infrastructure bill

WASHINGTON (WAFB) - Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome will be in the nation’s capital when President Joe Biden signs the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act into law on Monday, Nov. 15.

Broome tweeted Monday morning that she was invited to Washington, D.C. by President Biden and would be joining him and other leaders for the signing scheduled for Monday afternoon.

The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act pledges to invest $1 trillion in America’s infrastructure including roads, bridges, water systems, power grid, ports, broadband internet, and electric vehicles.

The bill was heavily debated in Congress but was eventually passed through a bipartisan agreement. Nineteen Senate Republicans, including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, and thirteen House Republicans voted for the infrastructure bill.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) called the bill a “major victory for Louisiana and our nation.”

“This infrastructure package will rebuild our roads and bridges, increase access to high-speed internet, strengthen our electric grid, add levee protection, and improve flood resiliency. After almost every corner of our state was hit by natural disasters in the last year, we must have the federal investment to protect us from future storms,” Sen. Cassidy said.

Louisiana is slated to nearly $6 billion from the bill for infrastructure projects, according to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). Officials say $4.8 billion will specifically be for highway projects.

On Sunday night, President Biden announced former Louisiana lieutenant governor and mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, had been appointed to coordinate the implementation of the infrastructure spending.

The president is scheduled to sign the bill around 2 p.m. CST Monday.

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