WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been vocal in urging the President and Congress to address infrastructure as their first priority after pandemic relief, even building a diverse coalition of over 300 organizations unified in calling for action by the Fourth of July. The following statement can be attributed to Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer, U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
“We need a big and bold program to modernize our nation’s crumbling infrastructure and we applaud the Biden administration for making infrastructure a top priority. However, we believe the proposal is dangerously misguided when it comes to how to pay for infrastructure. Properly done, a major investment in infrastructure today is an investment in the future, and like a new home, should be paid for over time – say 30 years -- by the users who benefit from the investment. We strongly oppose the general tax increases proposed by the administration which will slow the economic recovery and make the U.S. less competitive globally – the exact opposite of the goals of the infrastructure plan.
“The hard work of achieving bipartisan consensus is the best and only realistic path to enactment of historic infrastructure legislation. While today’s action, coupled with continued efforts to find consensus from bipartisan groups in both the House and Senate is encouraging and a start in a long process, we urge both Democrats and Republicans to avoid further partisan gridlock and provide productive solutions to get an infrastructure bill passed this year.”
