A National Infrastructure Board
There’s a gaping hole in the pending infrastructure negotiations: How to build infrastructure without years of delay and ridiculous waste.
What’s needed is a nonpartisan oversight board, similar to ones that decide on military base-closings. Here is a 90-second video posted on NowThis, created by Common Good, that makes the case for a National Infrastructure Board.
Other credible organizations and observers agree with the need to fix the infrastructure delivery system. We also have strong interest in Congress, including from Congressmen Tom Suozzi and Josh Gottheimer, who are part of the bipartisan "Problem Solvers Caucus."
How refreshing it would be for Washington to create a practical mechanism to rebuild America's outmoded and decrepit infrastructure. Now's the time to weigh in. If you agree, please forward this newsletter and retweet the video.
Last week, the Biden administration approved the final environmental impact statement for the Gateway Rail Tunnel Project, the subject of our 2016 report “Billions for Red Tape.” Read our press release praising their decision.
In a sign that bipartisan agreement can be found on the need for permitting reform, last week the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works voted the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act out of committee 20-0. The bill would, in part, establish the goal of approving projects within two years. Read our press release on the vote.
The New Center came out in support of a National Infrastructure Board in their recent paper, “The Path to a Bipartisan Infrastructure Solution.”
Philip Howard was quoted on the need for public union accountability in this PBS/Star Tribune article looking at police reforms one year after George Floyd’s death.
Steven Brill cites Philip’s work in his New York Times review of Noise by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass Sunstein.