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October 7, 2019

MSCI Joins With 150 Other Organizations To Call For Passage Of Infrastructure Spending Bill

Last week, the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) joined with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and nearly 150 other businesses and organizations to send a letter urging U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to pass a long-term, robustly-funded surface transportation reauthorization bill ahead of September 30, 2020, when the current highway funding authorization law will expire.

The letter argues “substantial and long-term investments in all kinds of infrastructure are needed to expand our economy, grow jobs and compete globally” and it calls for:

  • Significantly increasing direct federal investments in infrastructure;
  • Fixing chronic challenges and addressing reoccurring shortages in key federal infrastructure accounts such as the Highway Trust Fund;
  • Complementing and strengthening existing tools, such as municipal bonds, that successfully deliver infrastructure investments at the federal, state and local levels;
  • Facilitating opportunities for private investment in U.S. infrastructure;
  • Creating efficiencies such as accelerating the federal permitting process, while continuing to provide environmental protections, and;
  • Encouraging active participation among all levels of government and between public and
  • private sectors without shifting federal responsibilities because no single partner can deliver a well-functioning, national U.S. infrastructure network driven by a long-term vision and funding stability.

According to NAM data, underinvestment in U.S. infrastructure worsens by the year, and infrastructure investment is only one-third of what it was in 1960. As a result, more than 54,000 bridges across the United States are rated “structurally deficient,” and a majority of our roadways are in less than good condition. Ports and waterways are in disrepair, airports and runways are clogged and congested.

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