Rebuilding the Economy by Rebuilding America

The millions of Americans who traveled over the Thanksgiving holiday met traffic at every turn--on the highway, on public transportation, and at the airport. The number of flight delays on the Sunday after Thanksgiving ranked third all-time. And guess what? Commuters and others who have grown accustomed to congestion, delays, and other indignities ain't seen nothin' yet!

By mid-century, the U.S. population will have grown from approximately 300 million to roughly 420 million. This is the equivalent of 11 new Los Angeles metropolitan areas. The number of airline passengers will explode to 1 billion by 2015. The number of highway vehicle miles traveled will increase 60% by 2030. Water networks, ports, the electricity grid, and other vital infrastructure systems that we don't even think about are becoming more obsolete by the day. Our infrastructure is simply not up to meeting the needs of a dynamic and growing nation.

Continued delay at all levels of government only makes these problems more expensive to address. We must look at the challenges before us as an opportunity. Infrastructure investment can provide both an immediate jolt--by funding ready-to-go projects--and help prepare us compete and win in the global economy in the long term.

As Congress contemplates a major new stimulus package next year, what better time to invest in infrastructure than during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? But let me be clear--I am not talking about "make work" projects, bridges to nowhere, and political pork. I'm talking about investing in infrastructure that will improve safety, reduce congestion, speed product delivery, and create good-paying jobs.

That's why it can't be business as usual in Washington when it comes to infrastructure. Strict limits must be set on pork barrel projects so that Americans can be confident that their tax dollars are being spent wisely. Spending must be directed at projects that offer the greatest return on investment and produce national benefits.

Much more public money will be needed merely to ensure that our system will not get any worse. We should explore every possible funding source, even increasing the federal gas tax, which hasn't been raised in 15 years. We should also remove the restrictions on private investment and private-public partnerships that have locked up hundreds of billions of dollars of potential investment.

In short, it's time to rebuild America. There's not a moment to lose. This morning the U.S. Chamber released a set of infrastructure policy principles for the 44th President and the 111th Congress, they can be found at www.uschamber.com/lra

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