Infrastructure
Communities across the United States face a severe shortage of affordable homes and a growing need to repair, replace, and modernize their critical infrastructure—roads, rails, bridges, drinking water and wastewater systems, ports, airports, civic buildings, broadband, and more. Both issues weigh heavily on struggling families, government budgets, and the economy broadly. BPC is committed to helping policymakers respond with bipartisan and consensus-driven solutions, working to ensure every family has a decent, affordable home and access to jobs and opportunities. With trillions in unmet infrastructure needs, more must also be done to ensure that every neighborhood is safe, healthy, and connected.
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Michele Nellenbach
Vice President of Strategic Initiatives
Does FEMA Need More Help from HUD in Disaster Housing Assistance? An Overview of DHAP
ICYMI: How Key Stakeholders Can Make the Most of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
ICYMI: American Supply Chains: Solving the Next Set of Challenges
Addressing Burdensome Ownership and Occupancy Requirements to Improve Disaster Assistance
Disaster Response Reform Task Force
A Letter to Mitch Landrieu on IIJA Implementation and Private Investment
CDBG-DR Program’s Lack of a Permanent Authorization Has Unintended Consequences for Recent Allocations
IIJA Provisions to Accelerate Clean Infrastructure Permitting and Environmental Review
Guest Blog: Securing the Highest and Best Uses of State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund Allocations
Million people a day cross a bridge that's structurally deficient.

Trump’s stalled infrastructure plans leaves these roads a mess https://t.co/VnI5BXVPf2 via @Y7Finance
Episode 84: BPC Weekly
Letter to HUD on CDBG-DR Program
Congress can’t afford to put this off any longer. Our cities, our citizens, and our economy need safe, reliable infrastructure.![]()
About Us
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.
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“Build by the Fourth of July” Campaign
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.
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Housing
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.
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Infrastructure
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.
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Cleaner, Smarter, Faster Task Force
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.
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Natural Disasters
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.
More on BPC and Infrastructure
Our Work
The dire state of America’s infrastructure is holding back economic growth, leaving communities vulnerable, and increasing the divide between rural and urban populations. We can no longer afford to wait. Everything from highways and bridges to water and wastewater systems is in need of repair. As more hybrids and electric vehicles hit the streets, cities grapple with ridesharing and alternative forms of transportation, and internet access becomes ever more essential, we must not just fix what’s broken but prepare for the future. And when it comes to affording it all, we’re going to have to get creative. There is not one solution that will work for both water systems and highways or that will help rural communities connect to the internet or urban areas manage unprecedented growth. All options – from public private partnerships to increased federal revenues – must be under consideration if we are to bring our infrastructure into the modern era.
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BPC drives principled and politically viable policy solutions through the power of rigorous analysis, painstaking negotiation, and aggressive advocacy.