By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Photo by Michael Ruhl

In the next 5 years, the Pakistani infrastructure will be fortified by almost $10 billion American dollars, if Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) have anything to say about it. The aptly titled Kerry-Lugar Bill will provided money for rebuilding the lives of civilians in war torn Pakistan.

Both Kerry and Lugar said that most of the money that has been funneled into Pakistan in the past few years has gone towards security. The aim of this bill is to shift the balance, to place more of an emphasis on infrastructure.

The Senators want to use the money for building schools, improving health care, building bridges, water projects, and other elements of infrastructure. Kerry said that the target projects are “things that would improve life and give people a sense of progress” to civilians.

The money would also be used for ensuring an independent media, expanding human rights and the rule of law, expanding transparency in government, rooting out political corruption and countering the drug trade.

Additionally military funding would be conditioned upon several things, including Pakistani security forces preventing al Qaeda and Taliban forces from operating in Pakistan. The military forces would not be able to interfere in politics or in the judicial process, according to the provisions of the bill.

The legislation bill would give $1.5 billion each year from FY 2009-2013, and would recommend similar amounts of money over the subsequent five years. There would be required benchmarks to measuring how effective the funding is, and the President will have to submit semi-annual reports to Congress about progress made.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell made the case for revitalizing the U.S. infrastructure, explaining that it will improve the country’s quality of life, public safety, and economic viability.

Rendell stressed that the scale of the program would need to be significant in order to achieve the desired effects as a vehicle for economic recovery.

“Scale is important in this program. It cannot be 25 billion or 50 billion…our infrastructure is collapsing, it’s a danger to public safety, it’s killing our quality of life when people need to sit in traffic jams an hour and a half a day, and it is certainly producing an uncompetitive American economy,” said Rendell during a summit at the US Chamber of Commerce.

In order to make sure infrastructure improvements are carried out quickly, Rendell discussed a suggested plan to take federal funds away from states if they are not used immediately, a move that Rendell says will create an incentive.

“We need to have a hammer, and the hammer is ‘use it or lose it’…we know that in emergency situations in infrastructure can happen readily.”

Rendell dismissed the notion that the U.S. does not have the funds for wide-scale infrastructure at this time.

“One thing that’s been good about the financial crisis, and there’s not much, is that it has finally blown away the answer to good ideas in Washington ‘we just don’t have the money’. It’s pretty clear, whenever they want to have the money, they have the money,” said Rendell.

“If we can produce that type of money to bail out financial institutions who may or may not deserve to be bailed out, we can certainly produce a small portion of that money to rebuild the American infrastructure.”

Rendell says that he would like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to assume the role of transportation secretary, and also mentions a number of governors he considers contenders, including Tim Kaine of Virginia, Kathy Sebelius of Kansas , and John Corzine of New Jersey.

Governor Jim Douglas (R-Vt.) said “The challenge that we’re facing right now is a real one, and it has a cascading affect when the economy begins to go sour. Economic activity declines, investment is lower, the number of jobs decreases, income tax receipts are down, so a state’s fiscal fixtures begin to deteriorate… States are taking the lead in tightening our belts and reducing state spending… But economists across the political spectrum have made it clear that counter-cyclical spending by the federal government can accelerate our recovery.”

This is why Gov. Douglas says the National Governors Association (NGA) is making two considerate requests of Congress for a state stimulus package. First, support for infrastructure investment. Funding would go to “ready-to-go” state projects, of which more than 70% would go to transportation, and the remainder to renewable energy projects, water and sewage treatment, and investment in broadband infrastructure. Second, the NGA is requesting an increase in support for state Medicaid Programs, which are increasingly demanded during this economic downturn.

Governor Ed Rendell (D-Pa.), Gov. Douglas, and North Carolina General Assembly Speaker Joe Hackney agreed that President-Elect Obama will be very responsive to the NGA’s requests—the question is where the funding will be allocated and in what fashion.

Eric Lotke, Campaign for America’s Future director, said that investments made in public transportation would yield an impressive amount of jobs as well as other economic benefits (0:33).

 

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The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure discussed how funding for transportation and infrastructure might stimulate the economy.

Infrastructure investments create benefits that radiate throughout the economy, said Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.). The committee pointed out that transportation and infrastructure projects create thousands of jobs domestically and also immediate benefit small businesses, local and state governments.

We have several public transit projects that are “ready-to-go,” said Congressman John Mica (R-Fla.). The discussion centered on creating a stimulus package to fund transportation projects around the country that would begin construction in 90 to 120 days.

John Irons, research and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute, testified that “the investments would go…beyond the construction industry, they would impact a wide range of industries across the country and across industries.”

Panelists discussed America’s aging water infrastructure at a forum hosted by the United States Chamber of Commerce. David Havern, executive vice president and chief operating officer of USCC, said the United States has over one million miles of water mains and that the entire system continues to fall into disrepair due to neglect and age. He said the American Society of Civil Engineers gave America’s water infrastructure a D- grade. Janine Benner, an aide of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said the United States should be investing between $3 and $23 billion more to maintain its drinking and waste water systems.

General Manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority Jerry Johnson said piping in Washington, D.C. dates to the early part of the twentieth century. He noted that little federal funding is given to the development of more efficient water systems. Dan Coody, mayor of Fayetteville, Ark. said cities and states often find it difficult to improve pipelines since the need for a balanced budget could jeopardize funds for education and health. Coody said local governments currently fund 95 percent of drinking water infrastructure and 98 percent of waste water infrastructure.

Panelists encouraged increasing federal allocations for water infrastructure in light of America’s aging system and the need to address problems caused by rising sea levels due to global warming. Panelists also discouraged the privatization of water facilities, stating that corporate boards could increase prices, which are already on the rise, to levels that are out of reach for many Americans to guarantee profit. Benner and Benjamin Grumbles of the Environmental Protection Agency suggested increasing water rates so that customers would pay the full cost of water treatment. According to Benner, current rates only meet 90 percent of production costs.

White House Correspondent Lovisa Frost will cover the press gaggle this morning.

The Washington Bureau will cover remarks from political analyst Cokie Roberts on how healthy America’s health care debate is on the campaign trail and in the halls of Congress. The Bureau will also be covering a discussion on the role of state and local governments in combatting poverty, as well as a briefing on Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown, Botswana’s ascent and what it means for the rest of Africa. As new worries regarding America’s aging infrastructure emerge, the Bureau will attend a forum on our nation’s water system and ways it can be improved.

Later in the day, TRNS will cover an event discussing the congressional energy outlook with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), as well as a discussion with the Israel Project on challenges facing Israel today.

Petra Todorovich, director of the America 2050 National Infrastructure Plan, spoke about “Smart Growth: Planning for America’s Future Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Environmental Challenges” in a speech in a series of talks at the National Building Museum. (more…)

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) held a discussion on the effects of climate change on Gulf Coast transportation and the New York City water supply. Michael Savonis, the air quality team leader of the Federal Highway Administration, said that those working in transportation are frequently conservative because of the billions of dollars involved, so considerations of investing in climate change preparation are tentative. But, as transportation infrastructure ages, climate change must be considered in building new roads, bridges, railways, and ports. The effects of climate change in the Gulf Coast area include a rise in average temperature between two and four degrees and a 50 percent increase in days with temperatures over 90 degrees. He said that as a result more than 2400 miles of roadways in the Gulf Coast area are at risk of permanent flooding as well as 75 percent of freight and non-freight port facilities. Because of the increase in heat, asphalt wears faster, train rails buckle more, and aircraft performance decreases. (more…)

Mark Goldstein, director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office, describes his agency’s findings after their visits to seven regions of the Federal Protective Service, the group responsible for protecting Washington D.C. (1: 23)

 

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