Infrastructure

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) along with more than 140 national and local organizations launched the “Build by the Fourth of July” campaign, urging newly elected and reelected members of Congress to enact a fiscally and environmentally responsible infrastructure package by the Fourth of July 2021.

BPC is working to set a new direction for federal housing policy, recognizing the unacceptably high and growing number of renters spending more than they can afford on housing and the critical need for a reformed system of housing finance. There are simply not enough affordable, available, and suitable homes for America’s most vulnerable families, which limits opportunity, exacerbates inequality, and slows economic growth. Many households, with low incomes and high housing costs, are increasingly vulnerable in our economy and even at risk of becoming homeless. Forced to spend more than they can afford to keep a roof over their heads, struggling families are facing widespread housing insecurity, the threat of eviction, and other negative social and economic outcomes. Republicans and Democrats have come a long way toward finding agreement on this issue, but more work remains.

BPC has led several initiatives to outline consensus-driven, cost effective, and bipartisan infrastructure policies. Such efforts have offered reforms to make federal surface transportation programs more performance-driven, directly linked to clear national goals, and accountable for results. BPC has provided a new model for investing in infrastructure aimed at leveraging private sector capital, expertise, and innovation; recommendations to address aging water and wastewater infrastructure; and a pragmatic roadmap to fix the federal Highway Trust Fund. BPC continues to articulate the path forward for lawmakers looking to reconcile differing approaches to funding, financing, and delivering infrastructure projects.

The Smarter, Cleaner, Faster Infrastructure Task Force advocates for the modernization of American infrastructure to support a vibrant, globally competitive economy that creates jobs and achieves net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

In the race to grow the economy, create jobs, and confront climate change, our most limited resource is time. Building smarter, cleaner infrastructure will require moving significantly faster than we have in recent decades. Without a modernized regulatory system, we will not reap the desperately needed near-term economic benefits or deploy new technology in time to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Every year millions of Americans’ lives are upended up increasingly catastrophic weather events and natural disasters. In fact, 2019 marked the fifth consecutive year in which 10 or more billion-dollar weather and climate disasters impacted the United States. Devastating hurricanes, wildfires, and floods have highlighted the challenges the federal government faces in responding effectively—both in terms of immediate response and for long-term recovery efforts. Disaster assistance funding has become politicized, is inefficiently allocated and used, and too often does not sufficiently help communities bounce back quickly and rebuild stronger than before. BPC is dedicated to providing guidance to policymakers on how to better tackle the interlocking climate, budgetary, housing, and infrastructure challenges of more frequent and costly natural disasters, so existing programs do not continue to fail both disaster victims and taxpayers alike.