The US Senate voted  69 to 30 on Tuesday to overwhelmingly pass a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. This infrastructure bill is a historic investment that will improve American roads, highways, bridges, drinking water, and climate resilience.

President Joe Biden highlighted that H.R. 3684, or the “INVEST in America Act,” passed with “a vote margin bigger than when the Interstate Highway System passed in the Senate in 1956.” This bill passage comes just two weeks after the Senate achieved a bipartisan vote to take up the infrastructure deal.

The INVEST in America Act includes several key investments that will create millions of jobs across the country. For instance, this bill will improve commutes by modernizing roads, highways, and bridges. It will also provide clean drinking water by replacing lead pipes throughout the nation.

Additionally, it will provide “affordable, high-speed Internet to every American,” and upgrade power grids to provide secure, resilient, and clean energy. It will also strengthen natural infrastructure such as levees that “are at risk of catastrophic collapse in the face of extreme weather like superstorms, wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and heat waves.”

In a White House briefing, Biden thanked senators for working together across party lines and for “keeping their word.” Biden further stated:

This is a moment that lives beyond the headlines, beyond partisan soundbites, beyond the culture of instant outrage, disinformation, and conflict-as-entertainment… This is about building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, giving everyone a decent chance at a decent life.

In response to a news correspondent’s question regarding why the House cannot take up such an urgent and important bill for a vote right away, Biden expressed confidence in getting both houses of Congress to approve the bill.