Faso Urges Leadership to Tackle Infrastructure Needs, Prioritize Significant Investment Package
Washington D.C. – Congressman John Faso (R-Kinderhook) urged Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to prioritize a significant legislative package that invests in America’s crumbling infrastructure. The effort comes in a bipartisan letter sent to House leadership. Decades of neglect towards infrastructure investment has hurt families and businesses in every region across the country.
The bipartisan letter featured 86 signers and was also sent to the leadership of the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Excerpt from the letter:
“For too long, Congress has ignored the needs of communities across America while squandering the investments of past generations. Short-term fixes won’t work. We must act in a responsible and bipartisan manner to pass a significant, long-term infrastructure investment bill. As such, we urge any final bill to do the following:
- Increase direct federal infrastructure investments;
- Address the long-term solvency of existing federal funding accounts, like the Highway Trust Fund;
- Complement and strengthen existing financing tools, such as municipal bonds and Private Activity Bonds;
- Strengthen efficiencies to improve federal permitting processes without losing public protections; and
- Encourage active participation among all levels of government and between the public and private sectors without shifting federal responsibilities.”
A signed copy of the letter can be found by clicking here.
Background
- Rep. Faso previously helped develop, with his colleagues in the Problem Solvers Caucus, a legislative outline to rebuild America’s infrastructure.
- Rep. Faso has championed efforts to reduce the cost of infrastructure investment in New York through H.R. 3808, the Infrastructure Expansion Act.
- This legislation would require all construction projects using federal money to use a comparative negligence liability standard, rather than the current absolute liability standard.
- The only-in-New York Scaffold Law imposes absolutely liability on the contractor for construction projects. Every other state in the country has replaced the Scaffold Law with modern safety standards.
- Rep. Faso introduced H.R. 3977, the Infrastructure Bank for America Act, which would incentivize the use of private capital for infrastructure projects without increasing federal spending.