U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos said the House passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill over the weekend shows Democrats are keeping their word to constituents - and she's confident her party will get the job done on the president's social infrastructure agenda, too.
Bustos, D-Moline, said it was important for Americans to see President Biden and congressional Democrats get the bipartisan infrastructure bill over the finish line.
"We have to make sure that we're delivering that we what we said going into this last election," she said. "We said that we were going to do right by people who want to get ahead in life, we're going to do right by people who are working hard to support their families. And we've got to deliver on that. That's number one."
The White House projects a direct economic impact of at least $17 billion for Illinois from the infrastructure bill. That includes $1.7 billion for water system upgrades, $9.8 billion for federal highway projects, $1.4 billion for bridge replacements and repairs, $4 billion for public transportation, and at least $100 million to improve broadband access.
The infrastructure vote in the House came following months of Democratic in-fighting over the bill. It's tied to the president's Build Back Better agenda, an expansive $1.75 trillion so-called "social infrastructure" bill to be passed with Democratic votes only through the budget reconciliation process.
Bustos acknowledged the party's razor-thin margins in both houses have made that process difficult.
"You're looking at Democrats who come from places like West Virginia, and Democrats who come from places like California. The politics are very different in those two states," Bustos said. "They're very different from one congressional district to the next. So all of that has to be worked out. Where that ends up, I can't say right now."
Bustos said she expects the Build Back Better package to come up for a vote sometime next week. That will include things like more funding for childcare, and as it stands, four weeks of paid family and medical leave.
Getting both pieces of legislation passed may help the Democrats' electoral prospects. President Biden's approval rating sunk to a nadir of 38% in a new USA Today poll, and the infrastructure legislation passed the House just days after the party lost the governor's mansion in Virginia.
Bustos said she's not worried about the recent polling, given that next November is "a million political lifetimes away." But she said the takeaways for her party from the Virginia experience are twofold: deliver on your promises, and make sure you're working the entire district.
"We can't run up the score, or think that Democrats are going to run up the score in in the suburbs and in the big cities and ignore smaller towns. We can't do that. We have to show up. We have to listen," Bustos said. "We have to base our legislation on what we've learned from people and then deliver on that. And I think if you want to look at electoral success, that's the secret to making sure that we do well next year."
Bustos announced earlier this year that she won't run for another term in Congress. Her Republican opponent in 2020, Esther Joy King, came within striking distance in 2020 and plans to make another attempt to win in the new 17th Congressional District, which now stretches to include Macomb and Bloomington, as well as continuing to incorporate the Quad Cities, Peoria, and Rockford.
