(Reuters) -President Joe Biden has named former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to supervise the $1 trillion infrastructure plan, the White House said on Sunday.
Landrieu, also a Democratic former Louisiana lieutenant governor, led New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. He played an important role in helping the city rebound from devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The House of Representatives passed the $1 trillion package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements earlier this month. It was passed by the Senate in August.
Biden will sign the infrastructure bill on Monday at a ceremony expected to draw Democrats and some Republicans who were instrumental in getting the legislation passed.
The bill is expected to create jobs across the country by dispersing billions of dollars to state and local governments to fix crumbling bridges and roads, and expanding broadband internet access to millions of Americans.
A separate $1.75 trillion proposal aims to expand the social safety net in the United States and boost climate change policy.
Biden has spent the past few months promoting the merits of both pieces of legislation. The White House has said they will not add to inflationary pressures.
The infrastructure bill had become a partisan lightning rod, with Republicans complaining that Democrats who control the House of Representatives delayed its passage to ensure party support for the social policy and climate change legislation, which Republicans reject.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and David Shepardson in Washington; Writing by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Peter Cooney)
