By Lacie Pierson, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Even without an exact calculation as to how much money West Virginia could get in a proposed federal infrastructure bill, state leaders already are saying the money is long overdue.
After a working weekend, President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of 22 senators reached agreement on a $1 trillion infrastructure package following a summer’s worth of negotiating.
The agreement, formally called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is described as the largest long-term jobs bill in decades. According to an information sheet provided by the office of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., the bill would create new jobs for the next 8-to-10 years.
The bill is set to be paid for, in part, by repurposing an estimated $205 billion in unused COVID-19 relief dollars and $53 billion from “certain states” returning unused enhanced federal unemployment insurance, according to the information sheet…