House to vote on $715 billion transportation bill amid infrastructure push
CBSN
While President Biden travels across the country to promote his multi-trillion dollar infrastructure plan and the bipartisan deal negotiated in the Senate, the House will vote this week on a separate $715 billion five-year transportation bill that shares some similarities with the bipartisan proposal.
The House is expected to vote on the INVEST in America Act on Thursday, after voting Wednesday on amendments. The measure would dedicate $343 billion to roads, bridges and safety, $109 billion to transit, and $95 billion to passenger and freight rail. It would also commit $117 billion to drinking water infrastructure and over $51 billion to wastewater infrastructure. The bill is expected to pass along party lines, even though it includes earmarks proposed by Republican members that would explicitly help their districts. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators last week reached a deal on a $579 billion infrastructure proposal endorsed by Mr. Biden. The president is also committed to supporting a larger bill to address Democratic priorities that aren't included in the bipartisan measure. Democrats would use the budget reconciliation procedure, which enables them to pass the bill without any Republican support. The reconciliation bill is expected to include "human" infrastructure priorities outlined in Mr. Biden's American Families Plan, including child care, health care and education.President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.