Investment in transportation and other forms of infrastructure were given high profile in Washington this week. President Obama's State of the Union Address repeated past calls for transportation infrastructure investment with a new call for a $40 to $50 billion "Fix it First" initiative that would be "targeted to the most urgent upgrades, like the 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country." The President proposed a Partnership to Rebuild America to attract private capital to upgrade “what our businesses need most: modern ports to move our goods; modern pipelines to withstand a storm; modern schools worthy of our children. “Unfortunately, no additional details were provided on the proposal, including ideas about how to raise the revenue to pay for it."
On Capitol Hill, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held its first hearing of the 113th Congress focusing on the importance of infrastructure to the U.S. economy and examining the role played by the Federal Government in ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable infrastructure. Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) highlighted how the quality of the nation’s infrastructure affects the lives of Americans in many ways on a daily basis, and how the Federal role in ensuring a strong transportation network is firmly rooted in the first days of the nation. The hearing highlighted the federal role in all modes of infrastructure, but with a more specific focus on finding the revenue necessary for paying for the next surface transportation reauthorization.
All three hearing witnesses - Former Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell; President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donahue; and Terry O'Sullivan, General President of the Laborers Union – expressed their support for a strong federal role in our nation's infrastructure and urged the committee to move the legislation that addresses our country's infrastructure needs.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce held a Transportation Infrastructure Summit which focused on many of the same issues. At both the hearing and the Summit the Chamber’s Donahue said the business community recognizes the need to have an improved transportation system for all modes of transportation and stressed that the business community favors increased user fees to pay for the investments. He specifically called for an increase in the federal gas tax.
At a press conference later in the week, when asked about the President’s call for infrastructure investment, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) expressed frustration about the lack of specificity surrounding how to pay for it. "It's easy to go out there and be Santa Claus and talk about all these things you want to give away, but at some point, somebody's got to pay the bill," Boehner said. "I'm committed to working to find a funding source so that we can begin to repair America's aging infrastructure."
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