Letters to the Editor for August 29

Here are today’s Letters to the Editors…

Submitted by PA-8 Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick of Middletown:

A 21st Century Infrastructure to Support Better Jobs, More Opportunity

This Labor Day weekend, AAA expects 34.7 million Americans to hit the roads and skies – the heaviest amount of travelers in the past six years.

While that’s certainly good for the economy, what these holiday travelers are likely to find is a national infrastructure sorely in bad shape. In fact, the U.S. Society of Civil Engineers recently gave our nation’s infrastructure a cumulative grade of just a D+. Not only is that bad news for mini-vans full of moms, dads and families – it’s a serious and persistent problem for our nation’s diverse 21st century economy.

Earlier this summer, up against a deadline, Congress and the president unceremoniously came to agreement on a short-term funding bill for the nation’s Highway Trust Fund – the pot that doles out funding for infrastructure nationwide – just before it ran dry. While, the agreement kept infrastructure projects in Bucks and Montgomery counties (and more than 7,000 nationwide) from coming to a screeching halt,  last-minute governance fails to address the long term problem and often ends up hurting taxpayers down the road.

Simply put, the old funding mechanisms for our infrastructure have failed – and to continue them would only, once again, leave us in the same pinch. What we need are new, innovative ideas when considering how to finance the construction and support of our nation’s roads, bridges, waterways, airports and electric grid.

What we need is the Partnership to Build American Act [H.R. 2664/S. 1957].

I am pleased to have worked across the aisle with Congressman John Delaney (D-MD) in supporting this exciting, bipartisan legislation which would finance $750 billion in infrastructure investment – all without a single taxpayer dime. The bill will restore solvency to the Highway Trust Fund with revenues from repatriated corporate earnings as a funding mechanism – allowing U.S. companies to reshore funds and putting those dollars to use in transportation, water, energy, communications and educational infrastructure.

As opposed to the president’s failed $792 billion “Stimulus” program which promised “shovel-ready jobs” yet provided only a handful of part-time or permanent jobs in my district, the Partnership to Build American Act provides a direct investment to kick-start job creation and support much-needed projects without sticking hardworking families with the bill.

A 21st century economy requires a 21st century infrastructure. Funding to support the transportation of people, products and ideas around our nation is too important to resign to short-term deals without long-term solutions that the Partnership to Build American Act provides. Advancing infrastructure on Capitol Hill has a long bipartisan past, dating back to President Eisenhower’s efforts to build our interstate system, and this bill continues that legacy – having 75 cosponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate, roughly half Democrat and half Republican in each chamber.

With its bipartisan strength in a Congress all too often defined by gridlock, the Partnership to Build America is the legislative breakthrough needed, not only to fund and maintain over 3.9 million miles of highways, but to put thousands of Americans to work in family-sustaining jobs. Infrastructure is the lifeblood our economy and the gateway to advancing American businesses, workers and families.

This legislation provides additional good news for Pennsylvanians as our state is one of the few who have taken the initiative to address, in bipartisan fashion, its infrastructure investment needs. Because of this action, our commonwealth stands to benefit even greater if Washington is able to act – pulling down their fair-share of funding and investing it in our region.

Committing to a modern infrastructure is one step toward supporting an economy that creates better jobs and more opportunity, but there’s more to be done – including bipartisan objectives like declaring energy independence, putting our veterans to work and investing in the American worker. Learn more about my plan to tackle these goals at: www.fitzpatrick.house.gov/BetterJobsMoreOpportunity

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