For circulation and publication:

Open Letter to Congress: A $5 Trillion National Infrastructure Bank to Build Back Best, HR 3339

Everybody agrees we have to fix our crumbling infrastructure. The problem is nobody knows how to pay for it. As Congress takes up the issue of financing infrastructure through the budget, we urge them to also create a new National Infrastructure Bank (NIB). This Bank will cover projects that the federal budget, and state and local governments, are not able to cover. 

The need for such a bank was underscored yet again this month when the American Society of Civil Engineers issued their quadrennial Report Card for the United States and graded the nation C-. ASCE estimated that the gap between what is currently funded and what is needed over the next ten years has grown to $2.6 trillion. The country needs to spend nearly $6 trillion to bring our infrastructure to a state of good repair. Highlights of the Report Card include:

*There is a water main break every two minutes, and an estimated 6 billion gallons of treated water lost each day in the U.S., enough to fill over 9,000 swimming pools.

*Growing wear and tear on our nation's roads have left 43% of our public roadways in poor or mediocre condition, a number that has remained stagnant over the past several years.

*Currently, 42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, and 46,154 are considered structurally deficient, meaning they are in “poor” condition, but still in use and waiting to collapse. 

Congress will fund a certain amount of this through the budget. We support that. A new National Infrastructure Bank will finance the rest, approximately $5 trillion. This will include all the new 21st century projects such as: universal broadband, $1 trillion into High Speed Rail, the Hudson River Tunnels, and replacing the Brent-Spence Bridge. 

As embodied in HR 3339, the National Infrastructure Bank will be capitalized with existing Treasury debt so it will require no new federal spending, and no new federal taxes. It will be capitalized at $500 billion and authorized to invest $5 trillion to fix all our infrastructure. 

This bank is modeled on four previous institutions which built much of the infrastructure of the nation. The last one helped end the Great Depression and win WWII. 

The National Infrastructure Bank will create 25 million new jobs, pay Davis-Bacon wages, and mandate Buy American provisions. 

It will ensure the robust hiring of minority populations and disadvantaged business enterprises. It will supercharge our industry and small business. 

It is appealing to both Republicans and Democrats because it requires no new Federal taxes or debt, creates millions of jobs and fixes what’s broken.

In summary, this legislation would address roads, bridges, and transit; electric grid, including cybersecurity; schools; dams, levees, waterways and ports; airports; rail; drinking water and wastewater systems; public parks and recreation facilities; and hazard and solid waste.

As stated in the legislation, “. . . expanded investment is needed in new manufacturing centers, affordable housing, broadband access, science and technology drivers, to accommodate population growth and migration, and for other improvements in rural, urban, and low-income areas that the private sector is not currently serving … “

The time to act is now. Delaying any longer will result in increased costs, as many projects will be beyond repair and require a full replacement 

Signers: 

Sen. Louis DiPalma, Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight; Middletown, RI

Sen. Bill Tallman, Vice-Chair Health & Public Affairs, Albuquerque, NM

Sen. Bruce Ennis; Chair, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committees, Smyrna, DE

Sen. David Miramant, Chair, Marine Resources Committee, Camden, ME

Sen. Betty Jean Alexander, Vice-Chair Committee on Local Government, Detroit, MI

Rep. Lisa Sobecki, Ranking Democrat House Ways and Means Committee, Toledo, OH

Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, Democratic Chair Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, Wilkes Barre, PA

Rep. Amy Perruso, Vice-Chair House Agriculture Committee, Wahiawa, HI

Rep. Mary Jo Daley, Democratic Chair, Committee of Committees, Conshohocken, PA

Rep. Peter Schweyer, Appropriations Committee, Allentown, PA

Rep. Pam Snyder, Co-Founder House Broadband Caucus, Jefferson, PA

Rep. Shelly Willingham, Vice-Chairman, House Insurance Committee, Rocky Mount, NC

Governor Roy Barnes, Georgia (fmr)

Asm. Robert Karabinchak, Chair, Special Committee on Infrastructure and Natural Resources, Edison, NJ

Rep. Joe Ciresi, Commerce Committee, Limerick, PA

Rep. Tavia Galonski, Ranking Democrat, Civil Justice Committee, Akron, OH

Rep. Catherine Ingram, Ohio House of Representatives, Columbus, OH

Rep. Sandra Galef, Chair, Committee on Real Property Taxation, Ossining, NY

Asm. Susan Johnson, Connecticut General Assembly, Willimantic, CT

Asm. Keith Brown, New York General Assembly, Northport, NY

Asm. Felix Ortiz, Assistant Speaker of the House (retired), Albany, NY

Rodney Moore, President, Moore Consulting Group, North Carolina House of Representatives (fmr), Charlotte

Mary Jane Shimsky, Majority Leader, Westchester Co. NY Board of Legislators

Patricia Riley, City Councilwoman, Peekskill, NY

Catherine Borgia, District 9 Westchester Co. Board of Legislators, NY

Merton Simpson, Albany County Legislature, District 2, NY

Anita Prizio, Allegheny County Councilwoman, O’Hara Township, PA

Tara Zrinski, Northampton County Council, Bethlehem, PA

Mary Alford, Commissioner District 1, Alachua County, Gainesville, FL

Dian VanderWell, City Councilman, Sparks, NV

Lisa Hicks-Clayton, Treasurer, City of Dearborn Heights, MI

Matthew Slater, Supervisor, Town of Yorktown, Yorktown Heights, NY

Dennis Montoya, Immediate past State Director, New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens, Rio Rancho

Josie Marrujo, Deputy Director for Youth, President, LULAC Council 8057

Rudy Arredondo, President, National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association, Washington, DC

Jason Parker, President, Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council, VA 

James Sauber, Chief of Staff, National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO), Washington DC

Thomas Carey, President, Westchester-Putnam Counties Central Labor Body, AFL-CIO, White Plains, NY

Mark Strand, President, Central New Mexico Central Labor Council, Albuquerque, NM

Joe Padavan, President, Greater Wilkes-Barre Labor Council, PA

Kevin McGee, President, Business Agent, ATU Local 164, Shavertown, PA

Randy Beightol, President, Northern Tier Central Labor Council, Williamsport, PA

Richard Hollar, President, Central Georgia Federation Trades and Labor Council, Forsyth, GA

Chuck Clarke, Business Agent, LIUNA Local 1174, Allentown PA

Jerry McBride, Asst. Business Manager, IBEW Local 611, Albuquerque, NM

Ryan Snow, Chairman, California SLB-BLET-IBT, Sacramento, CA 

Jacob Croston, Business Manager, Laborers Local 1015, North Canton, OH

Lee Barile, Chairperson, Hudson County CLC Retirees Committee, North Bergen, NJ

Dr. E. Faye Williams, National Congress of Black Women, President/CEO, Washington, DC

Michael Lillis, President, Lakeland Federation of Teachers, New Paltz, NY

WilliAnn Moore, AFT Delegate, AFL-CIO, Toledo, OH

Theresa Allen, Chairperson, All Aboard Ohio, Forest, OH

Sandra J. Klassen, Virginia Democratic Party State Central Committee, Fairfax, VA

Linda Tosti-Lane, Secretary, Washington State 1^st LD Democrats, Brier, WA

John Verdejo, Committee Member, Democratic National Committee, Raleigh, NC 

Sandy Wolfe, Elected Member, Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee, Mechanicsburg, PA

Laura Quick, Member, Teamsters Local 776, Elected Member, State Democratic Committee, Palmyra, PA

Eddie White, President, A Philip Randolph Institute, Macon, GA

Brian Orsi, District Leader, Peekskill Democratic Committee, NY

Michelle Keller, District Leader, Peekskill Democratic Committee, NY

Angela Merkert, Executive Director, Alliance for Local Economic Prosperity, Albuquerque, NM

Adrienne Heim, Transportation Planner, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, San Francisco, CA

Bradley Perkins, President/CEO, Cascadia High Speed Rail, LLC, Portland, OR

Scott Koons, Exec Dir, North Central FL Regional Planning Commission, Gainesville, FL

Gary Faley, Legislative Director, National Association of Retired Railroad Employees, Flint, MI

Gary Buresh, IBEW, International Representative (ret), Arlington, TX

Derek Bauman, Board Member Emeritus, All Aboard Ohio, Cincinnati, OH

Rick Staggenborg, MD, Chair, Oregon Public Bank Alliance, Albany, OR

Steven Vagnozzi, Government Affairs Coordinator, MI Association of Rail Passengers, MI

Richard Billingsley, President, Ozark Rail and Bus Transit, Fayetteville, AR

Jeff Gaynor, President, American Resilience, LLC, Alpharetta, GA

Anthony U. Martinez, MSW, JD, US Army, LTC (ret), SFSU, Adj. Prof of Business (ret), Advisor, Native American/Rural Communities, AZ

Steven Fenberg, Award-winning author, “Unprecedented Power: Jesse Jones: Capitalism, and the Common Good,” Houston, TX

LaMar Lemmons, Michigan State Senate, Chief of Staff, Detroit, MI

Leonidas Murembya, PhD., Asst. Professor of Economics, MSU, Lansing, MI

Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers Law School, Camden, NJ

Ellen Brown, Founder/Chair, Public Banking Institute, Los Angeles, CA

Walt McRee, President, Public Banking Associates, Pt. Pleasant, PA

Christian Sanchez, Policy Associate, American Sustainable Business Council, Pembroke Pines, FL

George Reynolds, P2E Inc., CEO, Atlanta, GA

Peter Winslow, A Smart Collaboration, LLC, President, Philadelphia, PA

Ian Mackenzie, Executive Director, Top West Planning, San Diego, CA

James Moore, Board Member, ATA, NSRAA, AKI, Sitka, AK

Minna LeVine, CEO, Chamber of Eco Commerce, Alpharetta, GA

Michael Bongar, President, Visionary Performers Network, Inc., Peekskill, NY

Tana Torrano, Smart Community Exchange, Founder, The Villages, FL

Jack Hanna, former Treasurer and Interim Chairman Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Portland OR

Dennis Ortblad, Board Member, Public Banking Institute, Seattle, WA

Carolyn Barclift, Build Back Better USA, Director/Founder, Olympia, WA

Sen. Maralyn Chase (ret), Edmonds, WA

Alphecca Muttardy, Macroeconomist, former Senior Economist, International Monetary Fund, Fairfax, VA

Stanley Forczek, Infrastructure consultant, former executive Amtrak, Williamstown, NJ

Julie Olsen, Chair, AK DEMS Caucus Progressive Action Network, Anchorage, AK

Robert Cesario, Chairman, Phelps County Democratic Party, Rolla, Mo

Robert Lynn, Organizer, and Political Director, United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters (ret.), Toledo, OH

(released by the Coalition for a National Infrastructure Bank)

(titles for identification purposes only)

For more information please contact, info@nibcoalition.com