Ever get it out of your blood i dont think. So its an important topic at the right time, so thank you so much for being here. Thank you to our partners, thank you to our sponsors. Thank you to ed mort aher and his very talented team for putting this together. Ed leads our transportation efforts. Were lucky to have him. This is a founding sponsor of iweek. Does anybody besides us say iweek . Its a thing, all right. Were a founding sponsor of iweek. And were really proud to be a part of the bipartisan Steering Committee and we have been proud to see how this annual meeting as an event has grown in reach and in scope and programmatic activity every year. You know more about infrastructure than i will ever learn so i dont have to tell you what a big problem this is for our country. This is a nationwide challenge, so it has to be a nationwide conversation. Over the next five days businesses around the nation will gather and focus on infrastructure with government officials at some 100 events nationwide. Chicago, boston, las vegas, salt lake, l. A. , austin, right here in the Nations Capital. Through all of our activities as you heard in this video, we will send a strong and unified message which is it is time to build. Ladies and gentlemen, that time is now. We have a once in a Generation Opportunity to make major progress in modernizing our nations infrastructure and we must seize it with urgency. We have had the need to build for years. We have all read the grim statistics. We have seen the failing grades. We have sat in the gridlock. We have experienced the delays. And we have witnessed too many tragedies. Because of our failure to maintain critical infrastructure. What we have now is bipartisan buyin. Political will. And leadership to do something about it. The president has pledged action, and the public supports it. In fact, we conducted a new poll with morning consult. The poll revealed that 70 70 of americans surveyed want the federal government to invest in infrastructure. And by similar margins americans understand that Infrastructure Investment will strengthen the any, help businesses, and create jobs. We have heard the same message all over the country as we toured on our growth tour talking to small and medium sized business leaders. In short the public knows that infrastructure is important and worth the investment. So with the political stars aligning long term, strategic investment in rebuilding our country is now possible. We have got to make the most of this moment, it starts right here, right now. With each of you. Over the course of todays program well hear from the very distinguished lineup of leaders and experts from range of industries and from across the political spectrum. To get things started, lets hear a special message from a long time partner and a leading advocate for infrastructure. Would you please roll the video. Good morning. Im rich trumka, president of the afl cio. Welcome to infrastructure week, 2017. I want to thank my friend and partner tom donahue for his commitment to rebuilding america. We started this campaign five years ago to raise awareness about our infrastructure needs and we have done exactly that. Nows the time for our leaders to act. If they build it, it will come. Good jobs, higher wages, economic growth. But this isnt field of dreams. And instead of building, we have been discussing and delaying. Its time to build. Every day we wait is an opportunity lost. In his address to the joint session of congress, President Trump proposed 1 trillion in Infrastructure Investment. Now, thats the right scale. In fact, it should probably be even bigger. So my question to the white house and congress is this. Where is the bill . Its go time. Bring legislation to the floor and the Labor Movement will help you pass it. All we ask is that its done the right way. With robust public funding and high labor standards, supporting american jobs, american resources, and american steel. Business and labor are divided on a lot of issues. But infrastructure is not one of them. The American People want us to build. And they want us to build today. Roads, bridges, schools, water, sewer, electricity. You name it. Our mandate is clear. Our unity is strong. Its time to build. So lets get to work. Well, i sure would like to hear from rich trumka at the chamber. It sort of wakes us up in the morning, wondering who left the door open. But were honored to Work Together with him and the Labor Union Leaders in this country on one of the fundamental realities we face and that is how do we rebuild americans infrastructure . So one thing is certain if trumka and i can agree on this is surely the one that we will work on vigorously and continually. Im a proud im proud that rich and the afl cio and the whole Labor Movement, thank you for being here, are our partners this endeavor. As suzanne said a minute ago a lot of others are lining up too. Its about time. I have been fighting for infrastructure for many years. You remember i used to be at the American Trucking association. And in all of my time in washington its hard to think of another movement when the potential for real and meaningful progress on infrastructure has been so great. Im not saying its going to be easy or quick. Not by a long shot. But its possible and its likely. So now weve got to welcome this challenge and figure out how to make it work. The debate over what an infrastructure package should e be, how it should be paid for and what it should achieve is heating up. Were looking forward to hearing the administrations perspective from secretary of transportation elaine chao in just a moment. As she said on television yesterday, this is an emerging perspective, more to come in the immediate future. The chambers ready to work closely with her and with the leaders at both ends of pennsylvania avenue to get this done. This morning, i want to very quickly lay out three priorities for an infrastructure package we believe will be key to success. One is its got to be about economic growth. Im not talking about a sugar rush of spending that feels good in the moment, but its gone before you know it. Im talking about serious Strategic Investments that support our nations long term growth and competitiveness. And that means taking on the big projects. The ones that will connect our country from one end to the other. The way the Transcontinental Railroad did in the 19th century. The ones that will broaden the physical platform of our economy the way the interstate highway system did in the 20th century. Our investments today must support our 21th century economy and the evolving needs so we must focus on rebuilding highways and buildings and pipelines and power grids and a Broadband Network that will connect our nation digitally as well as physically. Oh, by the way we have to build one that they cant break into so easily. Projects should be selected and funded based on their potential to support long Term Economic growth. Not based on the speed at which they can be completed. We must prioritize them based on what helps the entire country, not what serves parochial politics. Now, big plans require deep pockets. So the second priority is creating a broad toolkit of public and private financing. Theres 250 billion in Global Private capital available for Infrastructure Investment. My own view, theres a lot more than that. Domestically here in the United States and available from investors all over the world. We need to remove barriers to getting that money. Tax preferred financing, federal loan programs and private partnerships could jump start that investment. You should think about it this way. I just did a tv thing a little while ago. Most people dont go out and buy a house and pay cash. Most people dont go out and why a car and pay cash. They buy the long Term Investments and agree to pay a certain amount of cash over time. And thats what we have to do to finance these projects. We need more public money, but it has to be the amount of money that helps us pay down those long Term Investments. We all cheered passage of fast act last year, a six year highway bill but after 36 short term extensions over ten years, that was a huge victory. But the underlying problem with the solvency of the highway trust fund, those problems havent gone away. It doesnt win me many popularity contests but i continue to call for a modest increase in the federal fuel tax. For 24 years, we have not increased it so its half of what it was before when you figure the miles per gallon. Lets get down to the issue, if were going to have a mortgage on our house, weve got to pay it every month or every year. It was welcoming news when the president recently expressed his openness to consider such a solution. It just makes sense. There might be other solutions so lets explore them as well. Lets put the options on the table. When it comes to the full breadth of Infrastructure Projects that we all envision, we should also consider how existing programs can be used and if necessarily improved. The bottom line is we cant make the dash without the cash. The third priority is to adopt needed reforms to ensure the right projects get down and that in a timely, transparent and Cost Effective way. You all know that we need greater accountability in congress to focus on the best practices. And improve the issues on permitting and on followup and transparency. Thats key to attracting private investment, ladies and gentlemen. They want to know their monies going to what they agreed for and that its going to be spent accordingly. Finally, we must invest in the future. Technology and innovation will increasingly transform every facet of our economy so we have to equip our infrastructure now for these new advances. By the way, the rule making process must be quick and nimble to keep up with rapid paces of innovation. At the chamber were confident that if an infrastructure package is built around these priorities it will garner the support needed to move the congress and most importantly it will achieve the goal of building a modern, efficient infrastructure system. Maybe the secretary of transportation with her influence at home and abroad will be able to find a way that we can have is only sort of a credit for the members of the congress for the things that are built in their communities. So let me stress again it wont be fast, it wont be easy. But kicking the can down the road isnt acceptable. Its time to get started and its time to do it now. So let me this morning introduce the woman who is going to be in charge of much of what we hope will be achieved here. Were privileged to hear from one of the leaders who will be at the very center of this debate. Secretary of transportation, elaine chao. This is the first time were hosting secretary chao in her new role but shes no stranger to the chamber or the Business Community. Our relationship goes all the way back to when she was deputy secretary of transportation that was shortly after Christopher Columbus came. And well, at least for me. She was very young at the time. We continued working closely with her when she was secretary of labor. She has been a dedicated champion for american workers. Making strong and measurable progress to protect their health, safety and retirement security. And we know that shes going to be just as dedicated and effective in her new role. I cant think of anyone better suited to lead the infrastructure conversation currently unfolding here and around the country than secretary chao. Shes got the experience, shes got the ideas, shes got the grit and the determination to see them through. She and her team have been hard at work trying to get their team together. And working on this project and the Business Community and our partners are ready to lend a hand. So please join me in welcoming secretary elaine chao, a good friend and a great leader for this project. Thank you, tom for the gracious introduction even though you said it was Christopher Columbus era. But thats okay. And a very special thank you to you and to all the other friends of infrastructure for putting together this series of events all across the country, highlighting our infrastructure challenges. As you know so well, infrastructure is the backbone of our world class economy. One of the most productive, flexible and dynamic in the world. It is a key factor in productivity and economic growth. Which has provided millions of hard working americans with the standard of living that is truly the envy of the world. It has also provided our country with unprecedented mobility, safety and security. And yet, today, these gains are threatened by crumbling infrastructure that is increasingly congested, in need of repair. And unable to keep pace with technological change. Now, we are fortunate to have a president who understands the challenges of infrastructure. Perhaps better than any other leader in recent memory. He has made revitalizing, repairing and rebuilding our countrys infrastructure one of his top priorities. And the administration will share its vision of what the infrastructure plan will look like in the next several weeks. Which will kick off our collaboration with congress. To put the proposal together, the white house launched a wide ranging, consulting consul thaitive process. This has included the Interagency Task force consisting of 16 different federal Government Departments and agencies including treasury, omb, interior, epa, agriculture, labor. Energy. The department of defense. Veterans affairs. The council of Environmental Quality in the white house. The education department. And others. And meetings and consultations with many governors, mayors, state and local leaders and private sector stakeholders have occurred as well. Its important to hear from this myriad of stakeholders and not repeat the mistakes of the past. And as omb director mulvaney recently announced, the new infrastructure plan will include 200 billion in direct federal funds. These funds will be used to leverage 1 trillion in Infrastructure Investments over the next ten years. And omb is identifying offsets in order to avoid saddling future generations with more debt. And thats why a key future of the infrastructure plan will be unleashing the billions of dollars in private capital available for investment in infrastructure. During this consultive process, the investors said theres Ample Capital available waiting to invest in infrastructure. A major problem is the delays caused by government permitting and approval processes. Which hold up projects for years, even decades. These delays increase the cost and increase the risk adding again uncertainty and billions and billions of dollars to the project. And thats why another key part of this administrations infrastructure plan will include common sense, regulatory, administrative organizational and policy changes to speed project delivery and reduce uncertainty. Many of the departments and agencies mentioned in the Interagency Task force will have a role in addressing these issues. The department of transportation has already initiated an internal regulatory review process. The federal Highway Administration for example has taken first steps to reduce the regulatory burden. And is looking for more ways to speed things up. A task force on Regulatory Reform at the department of transportation has been assembled that has identified many additional regulatory changes that could streamline project approval. Streamlining the regulatory process not only cuts costs, but it can improve environmental outcomes by delivering Infrastructure Improvements more quickly. And spending resources on actual Environmental Mitigation rather than stacks of paperwork. To illustrate what is possible let me refer you to the pictures on the big screen of the i85 bridge that recently collapsed in atlanta, georgia, on march 31th of 2017. Am i going to get pictures there . This picture shows the collapsed bridge and the second picture shows the new bridge. Which was just replaced in just 49 days. A team from the u. S. Department of transportation was on the ground almost immediately after the incident. And within 12 hours the department had delivered 10 million in emergency relief funds to help replace the bridge. A supply chain located within two hours of the site was quickly identified and federal regulatory requirements were expedited to ensure timely execution of contracts and funding. Now, of course replacing a structure is not the same as starting a project from scratch. I85 in georgia was an emergency situation. And its not possible to slash the time for federal requirements on every project from years to months. But theres much room for improvement. And i85 in atlanta is an example of what can be accomplished with federal, state and local governments working together. Now, as we begin to implement this administrations infrastructure reforms, a new paradigm will hopefully be created. And this paradigm will shift the focus beyond what is being built to how projects are being funded and financed. So for example, states and localities that have secured some funding or financing of their own for Infrastructure Projects will be given higher priority access to new federal funds. And the goal is to use federal funding as an incentive to get projects under way and built more quickly, with greater participation by state, local and private partners. This approach is in line with studies that show the federal spending often substitutes rather than augments state and local funding on infrastructure. That