Chris Hand
November 11, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and members of the 117th Congress will have no shortage of major challenges to address when they take office next year. COVID-19 is the most urgent priority. The virus has infected more than ten million Americans and killed nearly 250,000 citizens. While the recent announcement of successful clinical trials for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine candidate is good news, widespread inoculations are still months away even if the prophylaxis passes final safety checks and is approved for mass distribution. In the meantime, the Biden Administration will have to manage the worsening public health situation and facilitate distribution of personal protective equipment, anti-viral treatments, and any approved vaccines.
Illness is not the only devastation COVID-19 has wreaked. Countless families and businesses have suffered economic losses. The latest U.S. Department of Labor employment report showed 3.7 million permanent job losses as of October – an increase of 2.4 million since February. Similarly, the number of “long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased by 1.2 million to 3.6 million” in October.[1] A Yelp analysis found more than 160,000 listed businesses closed before September – with 60% of closures becoming permanent.[2]
Despite these challenges, Congress and the current presidential administration have not yet reached agreement on supplemental COVID-19 relief legislation which has been pending since July. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have suggested that assistance could be passed before the end of 2020, passage is far from certain and any help would be short-term. As the Biden team prepares to implement long-term recovery plans, it should consider prioritizing infrastructure investment both for health and economic reasons.
In 2017, the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) identified more than $5 trillion in national infrastructure needs and gave the state of U.S. infrastructure an embarrassingly low grade of D+. As the ASCE explained, “infrastructure is the foundation that connects the nation’s businesses, communities, and people, driving our economy, and improving our quality of life. For the U.S. economy to be the most competitive in the world, we need a first-class infrastructure system – transport systems that move people and goods efficiently and at reasonable cost by land, water, and air; transmission systems that deliver reliable, low-cost power from a sustainable range of energy sources; and water systems that protect the public health.”[3]
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to make infrastructure investment a key economic development priority. Yet the Washington Post reported last month that “Trump has through four years in office failed to advance infrastructure legislation through Congress. Under his administration, federal investments on roads and bridges as a share of the economy have remained stagnant, while federal spending on water infrastructure projects have fallen to a 30-year low.”[4] For several reasons, President-elect Biden should consider accelerating his plans to invest “in a modern, sustainable infrastructure and sustainable engines of growth — from roads and bridges, to energy grids and schools, to universal broadband.”[5]
First, infrastructure investment could help correct public health deficiencies. In July, Kaiser Health Network and the Associated Press found that the “U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century.” For example, “[s]ince 2010, spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita and spending for local health departments has fallen by 188%...[a]t least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession, leaving a skeletal workforce for what was once viewed as one of the world’s top public health systems.”[6]
The need for public health infrastructure investment goes beyond the current pandemic. For example, the city of Flint, Michigan has received global attention in recent years for catastrophic water infrastructure issues which exposed 150,000 residents to dangerous levels of lead, put thousands of children at risk for developmental challenges, and caused other residents to succumb to Legionnaires’ disease.[7] Water infrastructure challenges are not limited to Flint. As ASCE has noted, “[d]rinking water is delivered via one million miles of pipes across the country. Many of those pipes were laid in the early to mid-20th century with a lifespan of 75 to 100 years…an estimated $1 trillion is necessary to maintain and expand service to meet demands over the next 25 years.”[8]
Second, infrastructure investment will generate much-needed employment and economic activity. In 2017, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found that investing $1 trillion in infrastructure over 10 years could create more than 11 million jobs, with many of the jobs paying higher wages on a relative basis.[9] ASCE concluded that “failing to close [the infrastructure] gap risks rising costs, falling business productivity, plummeting GDP, lost jobs, and ultimately, reduced disposable income for every American family.”
Third, infrastructure is a bipartisan issue. Crumbling roads, obsolete water/wastewater systems and other challenges exist in blue states, red states, and swing states. Public opinion research has repeatedly demonstrated broad support for infrastructure investment.[10] Elected officials of both major parties have called for infrastructure solutions. This potential bipartisanship is crucial since control of the federal government may be divided between Democrats who lead the White House and U.S. House of Representatives and Republicans who will influence the U.S. Senate even if Democrats win both Georgia U.S. Senate run-offs in January 2021. Infrastructure gives both parties a chance to overcome Washington gridlock with a substantive governing accomplishment.
Fourth, the political timing may be right for infrastructure legislation. In June 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $1.5 trillion infrastructure investment initiative which included funds for airports, highways, schools, affordable housing, broadband and clean energy.[11] The bill passed mostly along party lines and the Senate declined to consider the House proposal in an election year. But the start of a new Congress in January 2021 may provide a better window for bipartisan and bicameral discussions over infrastructure solutions.
In his November 7 victory speech, President-elect Biden described governmental cooperation as “a choice we make…[a]nd I believe that this is part of the mandate given to us from the American people. They want us to cooperate in their interest, and that's the choice I'll make. And I'll call on Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike, to make that choice with me.”[12] America’s infrastructure needs provide an opportunity for a new presidential administration and new Congress to choose cooperation in advancing health and economic recovery.
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Chris Hand has served at every level of government, including as a U.S. Senate press secretary and as Chief of Staff at the consolidated City of Jacksonville (the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, 12th largest by population in the nation, and most populated city in Florida). Hand Law (www.hand.law) is a Florida strategic government law firm dedicated to helping clients navigate city, county, regional, state, and federal governments.
[1] www.dol.gov/newsroom/economicdata/empsit_11062020.pdf [2] www.yelpeconomicaverage.com/business-closures-update-sep-2020.html [3] www.infrastructurereportcard.org/the-impact/ [4] www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/10/18/trump-biden-infrastructure-2020/ [5] https://buildbackbetter.com/priorities/economic-recovery/ [6] www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/press-release/khn-ap-investigate-state-of-nations-public-health-infrastructure-as-it-confronts-challenge-of-covid-19-pandemic/ [7] www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michigan-reaches-600m-settlement-in-flint-water-crisis-case/ [8] www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/drinking_water/ [9] https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/trillion-dollar-infrastructure.pdf [10] https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/249326/singular-appeal-government-focus-infrastructure.aspx [11] www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/us/house-infrastructure-package-coronavirus.html [12] www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/07/annotated-biden-victory-speech/
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