FLASH JANUARY 1, 2023- Albuquerque Journal Posts OpEd, "The Key to Moving Water West"

Recap of December events: Just as the holiday season rolled around, the Coalition came out heavily against Scrooge Jay Powell’s recession which will put millions of people out of work in the new year. Then, the country got hit with an unprecedented winter storm, tragically exposing the country’s weakened infrastructure. Pressing the point, we released an Open Letter to the Biden administration with an economic plan for 2023. On Christmas Day, an OpEd, penned by two NIB Coalition experts, Alphecca Muttardy and Don Siefkes, was published in The Desert Sun, with our solution to the Southwest drought, entitled, “Bring New Water to the Colorado River, and a National Infrastructure Bank to Finance it.” Outlets in California and Colorado printed the OpEd, in addition to Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Reddit and more!

Recent events have framed what our role must be in the upcoming weeks of 2023. For sure, we have positioned ourselves well. We ended 2022 with twenty members of Congress sponsoring the National Infrastructure Bank Act. The new Congressional bill for 2023 is being drafted right now and the plan is to file it early in the next session. There are already meetings set up in Congress and in State Legislatures starting January 3. We are hitting the ground running!

But first, let us wish you a “Happy New Year.” If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have accomplished all that we did in 2022. A special thanks to all those who participated in the NIB Zoom Town Halls and have kept the movement growing. We are changing history!

Recap of 2022 achievements: 

Dozens of resolutions of support for the National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) were adopted. Some of the recent ones include: 

•        Asian-Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators
•        Los Angeles City Council
•      Miami-Dade Counties Transportation Planning Organization
•      Richmond, California City Council 
•      Council of State Governments East Region
•       California Assembly (lower house)
•       Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance
•      California Public Banking Alliance

At the same time, the NIB got expansive news coverage. OpEds appeared in the New Mexico, Mississippi, and Hispanic press, on the NIB as the only solution to the flooding and water crises gripping many areas of the nation.

The Coalition also purchased ads in many publications including: 

•        The Nation
•        Roll Call 
•        National Conference of State Legislators
•        Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
•        Buffalo News 
•        Wilmington Delaware Journal

What to do now: We are in a race against time. A recession is fast approaching. The Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates for the foreseeable future. The Fed has said “to heck with the suffering.” They are taking dead aim at wages and living standards and making no effort to cloak their intentions. This is a life and death moment. We saw it on Christmas weekend.

Only the NIB stands in the way of the incalculable damage. 2023 promises to be a decisive year. Let’s make sure it’s for the good!!

Make 2023 the Year of the National Infrastructure Bank.