Democrats eye major infrastructure component in next coronavirus package

With the ink barely dry on a massive, $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, House Democrats are already laying out their targets for the next round of emergency aid, including major investments in the nation's infrastructure systems. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), joined by several key committee chairmen, said Monday that the Democrats' fourth phase of coronavirus stimulus would be largely focused on helping the front-line medical workers, home-bound parents and patients afflicted by the deadly virus — people who may have fallen through the cracks, she said, in Congress's earlier responses to the fast-spreading pandemic. As an additional component, Democrats are also eyeing new funding for water, broadband, schools and other infrastructure systems that have proven insufficient, they said, in the face of the current coronavirus crisis. Such a funding boost would not only promote public health by updating systems like public drinking water and tele-medicine, they argued, it would also create jobs and provide a shot in the arm for an economy devastated by the fast-spreading pandemic. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the crisis has "bared a lot of inadequacies" in the nation's infrastructure, not only when it comes to hospital capacity but also rural broadband, as schools have closed and classes moved online...MORE