Bridging the Gap in America’s Infrastructure

Biden’s American Jobs Plan looks promising, but will it be enough?

Many, many years ago, on what must have been Bring Your Kid to Work Day, I accompanied my mother to her lab. Being a civil engineer, her job revolved around public infrastructure, and she took the opportunity to briefly introduce me to her field of work.

9-year-olds don’t exactly retain complex physics, though, and I remember nothing from that day. That is, nothing except for a couple of pictures: Images of great concrete bridges marred by numerous gashes across their bellies, of cracks lining the cylindrical columns underneath, and of fractures within their foundations that belied the fragility of what seemed to be incredibly stable structures. Years of neglect has led what stood as a symbol of American perseverance and ingenuity to the verge of collapse.

Maybe you think I’m overdramatizing the situation. However, the truth is that this is about much more than a singular bridge. Infrastructure plays a fundamental role in our daily lives, and all over the US, it is slowly crumbling apart.

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives a letter grade to America’s infrastructure in what is known as the “report card”. Since peaking with a whopping “C” in 1988, it has consistently remained near a D+ for the past two decades, highlighting how conditions continue to worsen despite some attempts at repair.

What Does This Mean?

Low-quality infrastructure can bring about numerous negative consequences to our economy and overall well-being.

Infrastructure plays a fundamental role in the smooth functioning of our economy. Poor roads and bridges are especially problematic for the shipping industry, seeing as 72% of all domestic shipping by weight is done via trucks. Through decreased productivity and fuel costs, the trucking industry loses an estimated $74.5 billion annually (2016 data, but the lack of improvements in road conditions and increased number of motorists actually means this number is lower than it currently is). Shipping done via ports or by train also remain a concern, albeit a significantly smaller one due to their comparatively better conditions. This isn’t even mentioning decreased worker productivity as a result of longer commutes, which are exacerbated by the lack of a robust public transit system and poor road conditions.

Being stuck in traffic doesn’t just make workers less productive. Longer commutes are objectively bad for their health: Lost free time stresses commuters out, and the sedentary nature of sitting in a car for hours has been linked to poor cardiorespiratory health. Worn down infrastructure can also hurt your health in more direct ways, such as by literally poisoning you. Despite the fact that lead pipes are deemed unsafe by the EPA (the manufacturing of lead water pipes was banned by the Safe Water Drinking Act), almost a third of American water pipes are still made of lead, and 15–22 million Americans drink or cook with water that comes from lead pipes.

However, I would argue that the worst consequence of poor infrastructure isn’t the damage done to our economy or health, but rather that done to our overall quality of life. Having access to a continuous supply of electricity is critically important for everyone, but our current power grid remains susceptible to frequent and sometimes lengthy outages. A particularly egregious example of this is the state-wide power outage Texas went through in the middle of February this year. Without electricity, more than 4 million people found themselves stranded in freezing cold temperatures, and many more faced a severe shortage of food and water as grocery stores were forced to close without power. Predictably, the culprit was none other than improperly winterized energy infrastructure that focused on profit margins more than it did functionality and stability.

These are only a few examples of what poor infrastructure does to our country, but it should be enough to recognize that maintaining and improving our infrastructure should be a top priority. Knowing this, it’s also important to point out that the cost of improving our infrastructure will only increase dramatically over time. Not only will infrastructure obviously worsen, meaning more required repairs, but the resulting damage to our economy would make it substantially more difficult to shell out enough resources and money to make those repairs happen. We need to begin upgrading our infrastructure now to ensure a prosperous future for this nation.

Biden’s Plan: Yea or Nay?

The American Jobs Plan aims to invest around $2.5 trillion into what feels like every aspect of American infrastructure. From roads and bridges to power grids and hospitals, the American Jobs Plan is in every sense of the word ambitious. If we’re really lucky, we might even get an expanded high-speed rail network, which would be absolutely marvelous.

That being said, there’s also a lot that can go wrong here. Many worry that the plan is actually too ambitious, unsurprising considering the massive scale of the proposed project. I myself highly doubt that Biden will be able to complete many of his goals with just $2.5 trillion, but ultimately, it’s still a win. Any sort of massive infrastructural investment will be a victory considering how long America has put off passing legislation around the issue, despite bipartisan support.

The second, more pressing issue is whether or not this plan will even be enacted. There’s a reason why Congress has stayed idle for so long regarding infrastructure: Democrats and Republicans fundamentally disagree on how much should be invested and where that money should come from. Biden, falling in line with other Democrats, proposes raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% (essentially rolling back half of the Trump tax cuts) and closing tax loopholes.

Predictably, Republicans and corporations alike immediately came out in opposition of the bill. While Biden has promised he’s willing to compromise, it will likely play out in a similar fashion to the COVID-19 stimulus he passed in the first months of his presidency. This means that he’ll probably be willing to back down from the 28% corporate tax rate (likely down to 25%, which most business leaders and Republicans support), but make few concessions on the size or scope of the bill. Should Republicans demand more austere measures, Biden will need to force the plan through the Senate via budget reconciliation, which also has some obstacles (Joe Manchin has pledged to vote against the bill should Democrats attempt to pass it without bipartisan support).

In this situation, it’s up to Democrats to weaponize the immense popular support behind this plan to their advantage. Opposing a much-needed infrastructure investment could prove to be political suicide, especially following widespread partisan opposition to the popular COVID-19 stimulus package. As such, Democrats really need to hammer home the message that Republican are directly pushing back against the people’s interests, and that they are willing to, on some level, compromise.

While it isn’t optimal, I could see Biden scaling back the more controversial aspects of his plan, such as the hundreds of billions dedicated to social programs that are targeted towards helping the elderly and minorities. This isn’t so that Republicans actually hop on board, because it’d probably be easier to rebuild America’s entire highway system by hand than convince 10 Republicans to support an ambitious Democratic proposal. Instead, it’s to give the image of bipartisanship, which would both maintain popular support behind the bill while reassuring politicians like Joe Manchin that compromises are being made.

I can’t say for certain how things will play out. Regardless of whether or not Republicans push for a smaller plan, or if Democrats end up making massive concessions, the fact remains that this bill represents a critical moment for this nation. The need for economic stimulus and better infrastructure are simply too great for us to even consider passing up this opportunity. And should it pass, I’d like to believe that in a decade we will reflect upon in the first few months of Biden’s presidency as a defining moment in his career, and one of the most important legislative accomplishments made in the 2020’s.