WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) ─ House Democrats argue the nation’s roads, bridges and airports are crumbling and need to be preserved.

The “Moving Forward Act” would inject $1.5 trillion into fixing the nation’s infrastructure, as well as address the digital divide by expanding rural broadband.

Rep. David Cicilline, D-Rhode Island, said the nation’s infrastructure “is stuck in the 1950s.”

“This is a bill that invests in the well-being of our cities and towns,” Cicilline said.

Rep. Brian Higgins, D-New York, said the bill will create millions of jobs, as 40 million people remain unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Jobs in the construction trades, jobs in the supply and materials industries…The program is good for the economic growth at a time when our nation is desperate for economic growth,” Higgins said.

But the bill faces strong opposition from the White House and the Republican-controlled Senate. Republicans argue that the infrastructure package is just a political exercise.

“No wonder the White House has declared it not a serious proposal and made clear this will never become law,” Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said. “So naturally this nonsense is not going anywhere in the Senate.”

Cicilline argues that now is the time for President Donald Trump to put his words into action.

“As a candidate, President Trump promised to rebuild our infrastructure. It turned out to be yet another empty promise,” Cicilline said.

While Trump has threatened to veto the House bill, a separate infrastructure bill is already making its way through the Senate.