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CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS

How Infrastructure Investments Can Create Jobs, Strengthen Communities, and Tackle the Climate Crisis

By Kevin DeGood, Alison Cassady, Karla Walter, and Rejane Frederick

Infrastructure is the foundation that makes the economy possible, shaping how Americans move, communicate, and earn a living. It is also essential to national competitiveness. When done right, infrastructure investments produce broad-based prosperity for American workers, facilitating social mobility and access to jobs, essential services, educational opportunities, people, and ideas.

Unfortunately, this social and economic foundation is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives the United States an overall infrastructure grade of D+, estimating a more than $2 trillion funding gap between needs and expected spending by all levels of government over the next 10 years.1 This gap is troubling, because inadequate facilities drag down economic productivity—especially in growing, dynamic regions. Many smaller communities struggle to repair crumbling older facilities, pushing out businesses and creating a downward spiral of population loss and a reduced tax base.

At the same time, the global scientific community has reached a consensus that transformational change is needed to rapidly decarbonize the economy in order to avoid the most catastrophic consequences from climate change. The International Panel on Climate Change estimates that the world has a little more than a decade to take decisive action.

Historically, infrastructure and protection of the environment have been treated as separate, with the former a foundational element of economic production and the latter an amenity—something nice to have but incidental to the economy and economic issues of wages, growth, and competitiveness. The increasing severity and frequency of catastrophic wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes have laid waste to this false dichotomy. In truth, the economy and the environment are intricately linked and mutually reinforcing. Infrastructure investments not only facilitate growth, but they also affect the production of greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants in both direct and indirect ways. Infrastructure investments should help the United States transform its economy away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.

In addition, Congress should ensure that investments expand access to opportunity, raise wages, and improve job quality for millions of working Americans, as well as help rebuild communities left behind. Even as the overall unemployment rate has fallen, many workers have not received a pay increase in inflation-adjusted terms since the 1970s. By comparison, corporate profits have soared over that same period of time. During 2018, real corporate earnings increased by more than 16 percent while average wages for workers rose by a meager 0.2 percent.

There is a long overdue need for major new federal investments in infrastructure—but increasing federal spending alone is not enough. To ensure the benefits of federal investments are shared broadly, an infrastructure bill should include policies designed to protect labor rights; fight workplace discrimination; set high standards for wages and benefits; and support high-quality training and apprenticeships. Additionally, federal funds should be targeted to those communities facing the greatest need as well as redress the unequal burden of pollution and geographic isolation that neglectful and discriminatory investment policies and projects cause.

The best opportunity to meaningfully address these challenges is a comprehensive package of national infrastructure investments designed to raise wages, rebuild struggling communities, and achieve a greenhouse gas reduction target. A federal infrastructure bill should have the following five characteristics:

• Robust: The United States faces an enormous infrastructure investment gap and pressing climate challenges that require immediate and substantial investment. Over the next 10 years, Congress should provide at least $1 trillion in direct federal infrastructure spending above baseline after adjusting for inflation.
• Comprehensive: The bill should provide funding for sectors that have historically received federal support, including transportation, water, clean energy, affordable housing, community health and rural broadband internet.6 Additionally, Congress should expand the scope of its support to include K-12 schools and child care, among other sectors.
• Climate smart: The bill should make a down payment on transforming the United States economy from one reliant on fossil fuels to one rooted in clean energy. The bill also should help states and cities plan for the impacts of climate change and build resilient and accessible infrastructure.
• Raises wages and improves job quality: Even with the unemployment rate at less than 4 percent, wages for working American have barely increased. The bill should include a suite of policies designed to boost workers’ wages and benefits, provide opportunities for advancement, and make it easier for workers to unionize, among other labor improvements.
• Targeted, equitable, and transparent: Federal funding should be targeted to those communities facing the greatest need. Resources should redress the harms of geographic isolation and excessive pollution caused by past and present infrastructure policies and projects, as well as racial discrimination. Moreover, the bill should ensure environmental review continues to provide transparency and public engagement in project planning.

Infrastructure investments are about more than steel and concrete; they represent the direction the country should take. Making progressive investments will help to create thriving, healthy communities that deliver inclusive and sustainable prosperity for decades to come. This report discusses the need for a comprehensive infrastructure package, exploring the size and scope of current U.S. infrastructure investments and highlighting underinvestment in a number of important policy areas. It then provides more detail on financing the infrastructure investments, as well as making sure they support climate-smart policies—ones that help American workers and that are targeted, equitable, and transparent.

Download full version (PDF): Building Progressive Infrastructure

About the Center for American Progress
https://www.americanprogress.org/
The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans, through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.

Tags: CAP, Center for American Progress, federal infrastructure bill

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019 at 10:03 am and is filed under Funding, Infra Views, National, Policy . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.