Infrastructure Policy Update.

• Author: Thomas, Michael

In this presidential election year, infrastructure is already a hot topic. It's important to understand the language, current plans, funding, and next steps for infrastructure proposals as the country nears the November 2020 election.

The future of U.S. infrastructure is always on the radar of both Congressional lawmakers and state and local government finance officers--and now, as presidential candidates crisscross the country and fill the airwaves with slogans and speeches, it might be on the radar of the American public, too. The candidates will speak at length about how infrastructure in the United States is falling apart, how investing in our transportation systems will promote economic productivity, and how passing meaningful infrastructure policy is a bi-partisan issue. There will even be a few jokes about how "every week is infrastructure week." Whatever the words and from whichever loudspeaker they come, many state and local officials will listen for signs of an infrastructure bill that brings an adequate injection of capital resources, which everyone seems to agree we desperately need. The volume of the infrastructure discussion will increase as the campaign trails grow longer.

Confusion amid the messaging chaos that an election season brings is understandable. Mapping out where the infrastructure policy discussion may be headed now can help cut through the increasing noise and help make better sense of what the candidates and pundits are saying.

CURRENT PLANS

Presidential campaigns inevitably talk about rebuilding our bridges and roads, but casting ballots isn't the only reason infrastructure will soon return as a hot topic. The current legislation that authorizes funding for the Department of Transportation, along with funding for surface transportation infrastructure, expires at the end of September 2020. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, signed into law during the Obama Administration in 2015, allotted more than $300 billion through 2020, setting aside several billion for infrastructure funding and financing programs that remain popular.

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passed a $287 billion funding bill in November 2019. Smaller than the other proposals that have been released, the Senate bill predominantly authorizes funding from the Highway Trust Fund to support the Federal Highway Administration's block grants, which provide resources for the upkeep of the national interstate...