These unions do not have to cobble together "quick-fix" proposals. They recognized long ago that, as LIUNA leaders have been saying through their "Build America So America Works" campaign, "Our nation's approach to transportation infrastructure is functionally obsolete." And they have worked with engineers and planners to identify and develop plans for smart, efficient and forward-looking investments in the repair and replacement of crumbling bridges, roads, tarmacs and harbors.
They've won a few allies in Congress. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chair Barbara Boxer, D-California, is serious about these issues, as are House Committee on Transporation and Infrastructure members such as Congressman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon. And there are Republicans who have shown a willingness to work on these issues; members such as Congressman Richard Hanna, a former Operating Engineers union member from New York who has worked with his old union and others on plans to speed up the approval of infrastructure projects.
Democratic and Republican representatives whose states have been hit with bridge collapses and other crises, such as Congressman Jim McDermott, D-Washington, have become essential advocates. "In 2012, the Federal Highway Administration found that one in nine bridges in America are structurally deficient. That is a shocking statistic for structures that are a cornerstone of our domestic and foreign commerce. Our economy has no chance of recovering, let alone thriving, without supporting the most basic of our infrastructure needs. Even more alarming is the fact that this bridge was not considered structurally deficient. The most basic role of our government is ensuring the safety of the public," says McDermott. "Without the resources to do so, I worry that avoidable disasters like this will become commonplace. It is time to reinvest in our state and in our country. We can't afford not to."
That's a proper sense of urgency -- and common sense concern. But both those commodities are still in short supply in Washington.
It really is time to turn up the volume.
Congress is out of session for the next few days. But when it returns, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee should bring some of the urgency that Americans feel to Washington. They don't have to listen to any one group of experts or advocates. They can entertain proposals for grants and loans and infrastructure banks. But what they can't do is deny the necessity of action. And what they shouldn't do is neglect the insights that can be garnered from the unions that have been saying for years that the United States must get serious about investing in infrastructure.
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