Cars and trucks are guided into the right lane by two trucks with light arrows on Interstate 78 with a “Work Zone” sign in the foreground. The need for safety in work areas on roads was highlighted during a PennDOT press conference off Interstate 78 in the Greenwich community on Tuesday morning, April 27, 2021.
Ben Hasty | MediaNews Group | Getty Images
One of the things that have always made America extraordinary is that when we see something that’s broken, we go out and fix it – or at least we try.
While American infrastructure has collapsed over the past few decades, gradually falling behind the rest of the world, Washington has been too bogged down by toxic policies and partisan dysfunction to address this pressing priority that affects the daily lives of every single American.
A smart and focused federal package to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure is a tremendous opportunity to make America competitive for the 21st century, but again, Republican and Democratic leaders are far apart on the details.
While President Joe Biden posted a $ 2.3 trillion proposal that reads like a wish list of the far left and defines infrastructure as everything under the sun, Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Has his support for a package of $ 600 billion to $ 800 billion that is limited to just traditional infrastructures such as roads and bridges.
Fortunately, I believe that there is a clear path to a sensible compromise in infrastructure. As chairman of the National Governors Association, I led a year-long initiative focused on rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure. Based on the contributions of the governors of both parties, we have issued a number of recommendations for a federal law on infrastructure.
In contrast to the Biden proposal, our framework is actually geared towards a real physical infrastructure. In contrast to the current Republican plan, however, we have recognized that the infrastructure of the 21st century must also include investments in the future such as broadband, network modernization, resilience and clean energy, which will grow our economy and improve our national security.
I believe this approach would have bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Last month I hosted an unprecedented summit in Maryland’s historic capital, Annapolis, where a bipartisan group of over 20 governors, U.S. Senators, and members of Congress came together to discuss how we can find common ground for a bipartisan federal infrastructure package.
After years of escalating partisanship, too few trust the other side of the aisle to act in good faith. And Americans pay the price for tires destroyed by potholes, hours lost to delayed trains, and kids struggling to do their homework with insufficient broadband.
Although we come from different parties and different levels of government, we came together with the shared belief that an infrastructure law will only be successful if both parties are involved in its success.
The summit closed unanimously in support of an infrastructure bill that invests in “physical assets, broadband and energy technologies to enable America to create good jobs in the 21st century and outperform our competitors around the world”.
When the Biden plan is narrowed down to suit this more focused scope, the price will reach a midpoint between the Democratic and Republican proposals.
Of course, that still doesn’t allow how to pay for it. But here, too, there are sensible solutions that are widely supported by both sides.
In Maryland, instead of collecting taxes, we have successfully used public-private partnerships to fund transformative projects, including major road improvements on the Capital Beltway and the construction of a new light rail line in the Washington, DC area.
Right now there are trillions of dollars on the verge of investing in infrastructure projects by private sector leaders. We don’t have to choose between doing nothing and massive tax hikes that would make America less competitive. Public-private partnerships are supported by Republican and Democratic governors and endorsed by the House Problem Solvers Caucus – the largest non-partisan bloc in Congress.
The reality is that none of America’s greatest challenges can be solved by any party or level of government alone. The biggest obstacle to a bipartisan infrastructure bill is no policy disagreement. There is no republican bridge or a democratic tunnel.
The biggest obstacle is distrust. After years of escalating partisanship, too few trust the other side of the aisle to act in good faith. And Americans pay the price for tires destroyed by potholes, hours lost to delayed trains, and kids struggling to do their homework with insufficient broadband.
If we are to meet the needs of the 21st century, we must tear down the walls of suspicion that are causing Washington’s malfunction. And if we can’t do this in terms of infrastructure – an issue on which both parties agree more than not – it’s hard to see where this can ever be achieved.
In Maryland, we’ve already shown a better way. While Washington has gambled to the ideological extremes, I’ve found common ground with my mostly democratic legislature, including passing the largest tax cut in state history to help families and small businesses rebuild roads and bridges with near-unanimous support, Tunnels and transit, broadband expansion and investments in the power grid, green energy and reliability.
The question is not whether there are similarities. The question is whether there is still the will and political courage to achieve this. Forging a bipartisan compromise on these issues will not be easy, but it can and must be done.
Larry Hogan is the Republican governor of Maryland.
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