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On Thursday, just a day after final passage in the House of a historic pandemic relief and stimulus bill, President Joe Biden signed it into law.\xa0\xa0

The bill includes billions for airlines, transit agencies and Amtrak to help with some deep losses suffered the past year.\xa0

On this week's edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Susan Howard, program director for transportation finance at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), talks about the transportation components of the bill.\xa0

Later, she offers her take on negotiations as the president stakes his presidency on adopting an ambitious infrastructure plan.

\xa0The stimulus bill will extend payroll support to airlines, helping to prevent layoffs of more than 27,000 workers when the current program expires at the end of March. It also would provide $8 billion in support to U.S. airports. Transit agencies across the country will see $30.5 billion in grants to help make up for dramatic losses in ridership. Amtrak would receive about $2 billion.\xa0

In a January report, the American Public Transit Association (APTA) said public transit ridership dropped by nearly 80 percent in April 2020 and remained more than 60 percent below 2019 levels through the rest of the year.\xa0

And these are essential workers who often cannot work remotely and rely on transit to get to their jobs.\xa0

Howard explains why the parameters of the stimulus bill confined the transportation funding to air, rail and transit services.\xa0

Now, attention turns to President Biden's hopes for what has eluded his predecessors in recent history: a truly comprehensive infrastructure bill. Howard echoes the analysis of others about how the fuel tax offers diminishing returns, especially as General Motors, Ford and other automakers stake their companies\u2019 futures on electric vehicles.\xa0

Despite the clich\xe9 about how infrastructure enjoys bipartisan support, that ends when talk turns to funding and revenue. Will this time be different?\xa0

And can the president and his USDOT Sec. Pete Buttigieg come up with something that pleases labor leaders and environmentalists?\xa0 \xa0

Writing in the Atlantic, Robinson Meyer argues that "in little-noticed ways, the rescue bill is going to reshape several areas of American climate policy."