Getting Infrastructure Back on Track

There are about 5 trillion reasons to worry about the massive Biden spending proposal, but at least $1 trillion of it is aimed at overdue infrastructure needs — roads, transmission lines, broadband, water, and other "hard" infrastructure that will improve America's competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

But there's no clear path in Congress to a reasonable compromise. Infrastructure has become a political pile-up.

In this column in The Hill, Philip Howard proposes a new condition that could save trillions — a nonpartisan National Infrastructure Board that would oversee how money is spent. Funding could still go through states, but only on condition that timelines and contracts meet standards of commercial reasonableness.

Skeptics are otherwise correct that much of the money will be wasted in entitlements and red tape. In exchange for a National Infrastructure Board to stem the scandalous inefficiency, Republicans and moderate Democrats could support some version of the infrastructure bill.

What do you think? If you agree, please pass this on to your representatives.