WASHINGTON — The backstop mechanism House Republicans inserted into last month’s debt ceiling package to ensure the completion of full-year appropriations would cause some collateral damage if triggered: cuts to bipartisan infrastructure law funding enacted two years ago.
That 2021 measure’s $68.5 billion in advance appropriations, which become available starting on Oct. 1, could get hit by across-the-board cuts starting more than halfway through the fiscal year next May — impacting grants for Amtrak, bridge repairs, clean energy research and drinking water and sewage line upgrades.
A result like that could muddle one of President Joe Biden’s key selling points as he campaigns for reelection next year on his “Bidenomics” platform, which has highlighted the infrastructure law’s projects around the country including the rollout of broadband expansion grants last month.
