House approves $1.5 trillion infrastructure package

The House has approved a sweeping infrastructure bill, the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2), that would invest over $1.5 trillion in transportation infrastructure, schools, housing, broadband access, green energy, water infrastructure and modernizing the Postal Service. The legislation passed by a vote of 233-188, largely on party lines.

The bill serves as a placeholder for Democratic priorities. While the President had recently sought $2 trillion in infrastructure spending to help the economy recover from COVID-19, the White House said it would veto the legislation. Majority Leader McConnell declaimed the legislation as “a multi-thousand-page cousin of the Green New Deal masquerading as a highway bill.” 

Congress faces a September 30 deadline to renew the current 5-year highway authorization. It is likely to pass a short-term extension until 2021.

The House bill contains several tax provisions used by the commercial real estate sector:

• New Markets Tax Credits - The bill would make the NMTC permanent and increase the allocation amounts.
• Historic Tax Credit - The bill would increase the credit from 20% to 30% for 2020 through 2024, reduce the required rehabilitation investment from 100% to 50% of adjusted basis and eliminate the basis credit basis adjustment, among other changes.
• 179D deduction for energy efficient commercial buildings - This provision would be extended through 2025 and the maximum deduction increased from $1.80 to $3.00.
• Electric vehicle recharging stations - The bill would expand the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit and extend it through 2025.
• Bonds - The bill would increase the volume cap for private activity bonds from $10 to $30 million and reinstate Build America Bonds.

A summary of the bill can be found here.