Washington – Today, Business Roundtable and the Bipartisan Policy Center issued the following statements:
“There is broad, bipartisan agreement that our nation’s infrastructure needs updating. This is the type of fundamental consensus that is an anomaly in today’s Washington—making it even more critical that lawmakers seize the opportunity to deliver for the American people,” said Business Roundtable President & CEO Joshua Bolten. “We continue our call for bipartisan legislation to enact significant investment in physical infrastructure—from roads and water systems to broadband—and policy changes that will unlock private capital and encourage public-private partnerships. We urge the Biden Administration and members on both sides of the aisle to reach a compromise on a true infrastructure package.”
“Our nation’s economy is both fragile and in need of significant investment. A $1,000,000,000,000 transformational investment in infrastructure would create good jobs, increase global competitiveness and address the growing climate crisis. In addition, a significant bipartisan agreement would strengthen public faith in government and rebuild the trust and goodwill required to govern a divided nation,” said Bipartisan Policy Center President Jason Grumet. “Working together, Congress and the Administration can launch a bold modernizing agenda covering infrastructure needs from transportation to telecommunications to the transmission of clean power. It is time for both parties to ‘take yes for an answer’ and move our nation forward together.”
Business Roundtable and the Bipartisan Policy Center support bipartisan legislation that:
- produces $1 trillion in new investment in infrastructure from the federal government and private sector, creating jobs, growing the U.S. economy, improving the lives of Americans, increasing U.S. competitiveness and fighting climate change;
- focuses on physical infrastructure, including transportation, water, broadband and clean energy;
- makes meaningful policy changes through regular order that are needed to leverage private sector investment; and
- includes permitting reforms, which will help ensure modern infrastructure can be built quickly enough to achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The reconciliation process prohibits key policy improvements. The only winning scenario for U.S. businesses, workers and families is a bipartisan bill passed through regular order that makes the meaningful policy changes needed to rebuild the country.