In November, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, marking a significant commitment to invest in all major sectors to confront new and enduring issues facing the country. The law established a $1 trillion infrastructure package, which includes about $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, broadband access, and more. Now, Congress must pass appropriation bills to define the law’s spending guidance.
With the many competing priorities in Washington, the appropriation process has predictably fallen victim to disagreement and delays. Thankfully, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution this week to avoid a government shutdown, fund the government through mid-March, and provide much-needed time to resolve appropriations.
The law and its subsequent appropriations will deliver a vital and long-overdue investment in repairing and rebuilding the country’s roads and bridges. The White House reports that currently 1 in 5 miles of highways and major roads, and 45,000 bridges, are in poor condition. Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers publishes a report card on U.S. utilities and infrastructure, and rarely issues grades higher than a D.
The country’s poor infrastructure threatens the safety and effectiveness of the trucking industry, which supplies the nation’s essential goods. Inadequate and unsafe roads create traffic congestion worsened by freight bottlenecks – resulting in an annual loss of 1.2 billion hours of productivity in trucking. The excess fuel burn of trucks in traffic amounts to $74.1 billion in added operational costs for carriers. The new infrastructure funding, if managed properly, will help alleviate some of these issues.
The infrastructure package will be financed not by raising taxes on everyday Americans, but through a combination of capital, including repurposing unspent COVID relief funds and new tax revenue streams from cryptocurrency markets. Negotiators of the plan claim the cost will be offset entirely, however, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts it will add $256 billion to projected deficits over the next 10 years – worsening an already grave national debt problem.
On the bright side, increased endowment and efforts to construct better and safer roads will create new jobs for working Americans. The planned investments are projected to support more than 550,000 manufacturing jobs and over 300,000 construction jobs. An expanded and more balanced job market will help lift the nation’s most crucial industries, like trucking.
Although we await action on appropriations from Congress, it is likely the bipartisan law will receive the necessary spending guidance to move forward. The larger process has taken extensive time and effort – with trucking companies and industry partners like TCA relentlessly calling on the government for greater infrastructure considerations and investments. With infrastructure money now knocking at the door, it’s time for trucking to dig in and understand the new funding picture, at both the federal and state level.
