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Transcripts For CSPAN3 Chamber Of Commerce Forum On Infrastr
Transcripts For CSPAN3 Chamber Of Commerce Forum On Infrastr
CSPAN3 Chamber Of Commerce Forum On Infrastructure May 16, 2017
Im suzanne clark, senior evp here at the u. S. Chamber and i am delighted to welcome you here today. Now, when you have my job, you get to be in this room and say that sentence a lot. But i actually mean it today or mean it more than usual. Not just because youre a charming audience, but because i started my career at the
American Trucking
association and you know you dont really 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 Investment
s 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
American Trucking<\/a> association and you know you dont really 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<\/a> 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<\/a>. 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> proposed 1 trillion in
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>. 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> with him and the
Labor Union Leaders<\/a> 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<\/a>, 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> capital available for
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>. My own view, theres a lot more than that. Domestically here in the
United States<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a>. 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a>. Our relationship goes all the way back to when she was deputy secretary of transportation that was shortly after
Christopher Columbus<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> force consisting of 16 different federal
Government Departments<\/a> and agencies including treasury, omb, interior, epa, agriculture, labor. Energy. The department of defense. Veterans affairs. The council of
Environmental Quality<\/a> 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 Investment<\/a>s 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a> more quickly. And spending resources on actual
Environmental Mitigation<\/a> 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<\/a> 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 was a conclusion of a 2004 gao report on highway spending. It found that the state and localities studied used federal dollars to replace rather than supplement what they would have otherwise spent. The administration would like to avoid that outcome. Currently, less than onefifth of all
Infrastructure Spending<\/a> is federal. The rest comes from state, local and private sources. This administration wants to retain the primacy of state and local spending and use federal funding as leverage to increase a total amount of funding available for infrastructure. At the same time, everyone recognizes that there is no one size fits all revenue model for
Infrastructure Projects<\/a>. Toll roads for example may work well in urban areas. Where they generate consistent revenue. Because of high traffic and high demand. But lower demand on rural roads may not generate enough revenues to repay private investment. This administration is committed to an infrastructure package that addresses the needs of the entire country. Urban and rural. Availty payments for example are one of the most widely used alternative financing methods for infrastructure in the world. And in this model, a
Government Entity<\/a> contracts with the private sector to build, operate and maintain a piece of infrastructure. In return t contractor receives payments from the government over a specified period of time. Provided that certain milestones and targets are met. Using this approach, the government doesnt have to bear the full cost of infrastructure up front. And the risk to both the private and the
Public Sector<\/a> is mitigated. So there are many innovative and creative models out there to be considered. The administrations definition of infrastructure is also broad and inclusive. It not only recognizes traditional infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railroads, airports, inland waterways and ports, it may potentially include energy, water, broadband, veterans hospitals as well. And that is why there are 16 different departments and agencies working to put together this initiative. In addition, a few special projects that are not candidates for private investments will likely be identified and funded directly. Candidates for the special category may include projects that have the potential to significantly increase gdp growth, or to lift the american spirit. Incentivizing local, private and other sectors will have the biggest impact on future infrastructure development. But in the process of revitalizing our countrys infrastructure, were also looking at ways to revitalize our countrys workforce. And as the former secretary of labor, this is especially important to me. Far too many workers are being left behind because theyre not equipped with the skills and demand in our rapidly changing economy. In transportation for example, drivers of the future will be in charge of fleets of cars that talk to one another. Dispatched by workers at a computer. Drones will inspect our infrastructure with precision and reliability. But will require some type of human control, oversight and analysis. So
Digital Literacy<\/a> and higher skills will be key. The good news is that workers dont need an expensive four
Year College Degree<\/a> to access these good paying jobs. A two year program at a local
Community College<\/a> is an important resource as well and far more affordable. And increasingly employers are offering
Vocational Training<\/a> to
High School Students<\/a> and their excellent
Training Programs<\/a> offered by many skilled trade unions and
Government Programs<\/a> to help train workers as well. But to be relevant, all vocational and skills
Training Programs<\/a> have got to involve the employers. Because they know best which skills are in demand, which skills they require. So let me add that emerging technology requires a regulatory approach that ensures safety while encouraging innovation and preserves creativity. And this last point is especially important. Creativity and innovation are part of the great genius of america. One of its hallmarks. And we who are in the policy making arena must safeguard and nurture this legacy. But it is also critical that
Silicon Valley<\/a> and other innovators step up and share with the public their understanding of new technology and address legitimate public concerns about safety and privacy. So let me close by noting that as you have heard from other speakers, theres never been a more exciting time to be involved in infrastructure. Its a
National Priority<\/a> and has growing public support. There is also rare bipartisan consensus that now is the time to act. I want to thank you for inviting me here today. I look forward to working with you to incentivize innovation and eliminate unnecessary barriers to change. And usher in a new era of safety, mobility and prosperity for our country and its residents. And thank you for helping us to highlight all these very important issues across the country. Thanks so much. [ applause ] our failure to maintain and build and expand new infrastructure puts america at risk. Its a drag on the economy. It threatens jobs, businesses and communities. Were going to pay for infrastructure whether we invest in it now or not through unsafe conditions that put us through longer commutes and lost productivity. Through worn out vehicles and
Unreliable Energy<\/a> and water. But if we invest today we can rebuild, repair and modernize our systems. So we are ready for whatever the future brings. Good morning. Im greg kelly, ceo from wsp here in the u. S. And latin america and its a pleasure to be here for infrastructure week. Just by way of a
Public Service<\/a> announcement, we were known as parsons wing kerr hoff and were happy to put the new brand out there today. Sitting on my right is someone i think is well known to everyone. Terry is has been the head of liuna for close to 20 years now. Based here in the d. C. Area. Son of labor, father of labor. This is somebody who labor is in his blood. Hes got close to 500,000 members and this is a grow up thats responsible for building the backbone of our infrastructure. And sitting on the end here, jay is with the
National Association<\/a> of manufacturers. This is the group that represents the people that make things for our country. With over 12
Million People<\/a> employed by those manufacturers, this is a group that understands the critical nature of infrastructure. So let me just start by saying as we think about infrastructure, this is a worldwide competition. This is not new mexico versus new york. Or denver versus detroit. This is about our role with infrastructure across the u. S. Countries outside of the u. S. Emerging economies are investing perhaps 7 of their gdp on infrastructure. Here in our country, were investing and 2 . Between 2 and 3 . In the 50s it was close to the 6 or 7 number. If let me put this in the context. A colleague of mine recently said that today, we are using infrastructure moving goods and people across bridges and through tunnels. That were opened when they were still building the titanic. And were still using those assets today. So when we think about that in those terms its pretty alarming as it relates to investment in infrastructure in our country so let me begin, jay, with you. You represent manufacturers all over america. Talk about when youre in the room with your association what are they talking about as it relates to infrastructure . Whats on their mind . Well, i think you have to put it into context of the cost of doing business. And incentives for investment in this country and incentives to create jobs in this country. When it costs too much to do business in the
United States<\/a>, it becomes an impediment for growth in our country. Infrastructure the cost of infrastructure or the cost of crumbling infrastructure very much adds to that cost of doing business here. So when i talked to manufacturers when they talk about why that cost is being added, its because we have a very intricate and complex supply chain that allows us to manufacture products just in time. If we have delays, if we have trucks that cant get through, if we have ports that are clogged that adds time. That reduces our productivity and our efficiency. And ultimately it adds dollars to the bottom line cost which of course goes to consumers and impedes our ability to invest more dollars. So really its its part of that mix when we talk about taxes and regulation and workforce issues. Infrastructure is very much at the top of the list of cost drivers. Its why quite frankly cha this administration is taking that this administration is taking it head on to come up with some results. Terry, you represent workers across the u. S. My question would be, are you seeing progress in addressing this backlog of projects and its not just in transportation but in energy. Whats what kind of progress are you and your members seeing . I think its as tom donahue said and i would be remiss if i didnt thank the chamber and tom donohoe for hosting this. And jay timmons for participating on this panel as well as yours. And we have worked with the americans for
Transportation Mobility<\/a> coalition on infrastructure. And with jay and his organization on not only infrastructure, but
Energy Infrastructure<\/a> and a whole host of other things. Anything that requires jobs, right . Absolutely. So the backlog, greg. Certainly the five year highway bill has made a difference at least from our organization, our members perspective. No way to run in their line so to speak ten years of relatively short term extensions where
Department State<\/a> departments of transportation couldnt plan long term. So we have seen a growth in the infrastructure space i believe because of the highway bill. We have also seen an explosion of work in the pipeline sector. Actually, the
Energy Sector<\/a> does include renewables but particularly natural gas and oil pipelines. As we sit here today we have over 50 billion worth of pipeline work on the books. Which are good family supporting, blue collar jobs with good wages, good benefits, good working conditions and with good labor standards and protections. So we have seen our membership is growing. Again, primarily because of the five year highway bill. And because of the
Energy Sector<\/a>. So if we could get our hands around how we build address the problem at hand, as tom said this morning we have talked about it a million times. We were talking backstage. Is that any increased
Infrastructure Spending<\/a> would be an absolute boom for jobs. Those good working class jobs i talked about, our economy and our competitiveness as a country. Can i just interject and toms toms exam words were serious
Strategic Investments<\/a>. I think thats an important concept because you can have a bill that just pumps well, lets just say a trillion dollars into the economy. But if its not well thought out, if its not if there arent specific priorities that are outlined, you really you really arent being as effective and efficient with taxpayer dollars as you should be. And we saw that frankly eight years ago with the stimulus bill. There were parts of that that were certainly well thought out and well planned but there was a lot that wasnt. So were very excited and were working with the administration to present a plan that will have a very long term look at what our
Transportation Needs<\/a> are. And that may involve different ways and i know well get into that. That may involve different ways of thinking about funding. You know, how are we going to pay for this massive infusion of spending . It may involve encouraging the states to have some skin in the game more than they do now. Its really its a fascinating time i think for this particular issue. Its something as terry mentioned that we have been dealing with for not just years but decades. And we have we have limped along to the point that we cant limp anymore. Weve got to weve got to go to the hospital. We have to get healed. We have to move forward with a pretty bold plan. Jay and terry, you mentioned about the role of states here. Theres a bit of federalism. When you think of infrastructure priorities theyre developed at the state level and its an interconnected system nationally. Where have you seen successes at the state level where they get it right in setting those priorities and moving an infrastructure agenda forward from both the funding and choosing those
Strategic Priorities<\/a> in that particular location . I mean, i could point to the whole host of projects, i wrote a few down. Just as examples of high because as jay said at the end of the day if we spend 1 trillion on our infrastructure and our infrastructure isnt any better, and if the there are not high road jobs but low road jobs, it wont benefit our economy as much as it should or it could. And as most people know, there is worker shortages in this country. We ought to be able to take the advantage of increased
Infrastructure Spending<\/a> along with skills training to make sure that when were done with this boom well never be done, but as it subsides somewhat that we have a capable and
Skilled Workforce<\/a>, the workforce of the future. I think if you look at the blue plains tunnel project here in d. C. It was 319 million job. It was an engineering marvel, actually e r made it the project of the year in 2016. It will reduce the waste flow into the cost into the river by 98 . 1. 6 million work hours and no lost time accidents. Projects like
Laguardia Airport<\/a> is another example of those kind of high road projects that in some instances are publicly funded but many instances these are also privately funded or state funded projects. Theres a one of the largest coal and natural gas replacement projects in the u. S. Is in snyder county, pennsylvania. Created over 1,000 jobs, expected to contribute more than 5 billion into the local economy and it will produce it will generate 180 more power which will power more than 1 million homes in pennsylvania and new york. There are a whole host of examples of where whether its private money, public money or a combination of the both of high road jobs, where infrastructure has improved in the local economy has improved as well. Think about think about that. Its not only its not only good for economic growth, it provides jobs. Good paying, sustainable jobs and it also improves quality of life. I mean, how many of us lets face it. How many of us got stuck in traffic coming here today . How many hours are lost for the average family trying to get there get their kids to work or pardon me get their kids to school and then work after that . Theres so many hours that we lose because of our poor infrastructure system. But to answer your question directly, greg, i can go to what i know personally. I worked for george allen when he was governor of virginia and i was his chief of staff and transportation funding was a top priority for him because he understood and he heard from folks specifically in
Northern Virginia<\/a> and tide water and southside virginia about what crumbling infrastructure or outdated infrastructure was doing to families. Look at projects like the wilson bridge, that was a combination of virginia, maryland and d. C. And i will say that, you know, brag a little bit, george allen took the lead on that and made that happen. And thats where you need that leadership. You need it at the state level to really drive and these priorities forward. If you look at the hot lanes in virginia, which was not a project, but later thats a
Public Private<\/a> partnership with floor corporation. That thing moved so quickly, if it was pure federal and state funding wed still be waiting for the
Ribbon Cutting<\/a> on that one. Look at the mixing bowl project in
Northern Virginia<\/a>. Look at the route 58 along southern virginia. There was a combination of pure state funding, a combination of some federal state funding and some
Public Private<\/a> partnerships. Virginia led the way 20 years ago with the implement anxious of the
Public Private<\/a>
Partnership Legislation<\/a> which enabled investors to come to the state and say, okay, we know what your priorities are because the state commonwealth transportation board listed those. Heres how we can actually help you achieve those priorities. Heres what well invest. Heres what our risk will be. And heres what we expect our return to be. The state evaluated it and allowed i think it was during allens time 12 of the 15 projects to move forward. That would not have happened if we were waiting for government to act. Thats why the public the private sector is so important to this equation as well. Jay, it almost seems like a different time when were able to move those projects forward and it seems today theres a bit more impediments in the way to moving projects. Well, thats true. But for both of you, what are the impediments that need to be removed to support why were moving the infrastructure forward . Well, one, we have to figure out how to pay for it which is one of the major topics here. Were a union that supported increase in the gas tax, but believe that everything should be on the table. Theres a lot of good ideas and its great that the president is talking about the need for additional
Infrastructure Spending<\/a>. 1 trillion over ten years. Its encouraging that congress is as well. But the major impediment to moving forward is how the heck are we going to pay for it . And to me thats the number one issue is how we do get our hands around it. Two, that is
Regulatory Reform<\/a>. At the end of the day, we need to find ways to expedite the approval process in the and the
Environmental Review<\/a> processes for infrastructure and pipeline. Our regulatory process slows projects down at an alarming rate. Not to say that we dont need
Environmental Review<\/a> because we do. Not to say that we should short cut on projects because we shouldnt. But, you know, coupled with how we figure it out how we pay for infrastructure, we have to figure out and change we have to adjust and change and reform the regulatory process. Can i ask you to do one thing, terry, because youre not going to do it. Talk about your leadership on keystone because thats how weve struggled as a
Regulatory Agency<\/a> and the nimbyism to overcome that. That parlays into politics and thats why were the partners on a team doing these. We have to bring out the politics whether on the regulatory or the investment side. I think that theres no better example of politics as usual than jay mentioned keystone pipeline. It was vetted for five state
Department Review<\/a>s and what held up the project wasnt what the state
Department Review<\/a>s said. It was clearly politics. And if we dont wring out the politics, were not going to be able to move forward. So regulatory and politics, we cant have politicians licking their fingers the see which way the to see which way the wind is blowing. And president obama held that project up not because against what the state
Department Review<\/a> said because of politics. Because a group of extremists circled the white house,
Holding Hands<\/a> singing kumbaya and because of that he licked his finger to see which way the wind was blowing and keystone wasnt a reality. I have to say that when we met with
President Trump<\/a>,
Shawn Mcgarvey<\/a> and myself and some other president s two days after hf he was elected, he said the keystone and he signed an executive order on it. I could go on and on about not the regulatory process, but the politics and if we dont lean and wring politics out of it i dont know if thats doable or not, but its going to slow down our economy, its going to the progression of good middle class jobs. And its going to slow down our ability to repair our crumbling transportation, water, and
Energy Infrastructure<\/a> in this country. I would say vieshenvironment regulatory impediments have been front and center, greg, theres no question about that. But i would say when terry talks about wringing the politics out of this process, one way to do that is for every day americans to rise up and speak out on the importance, to give our elected leaders the backbone they need to get this done. Look, there are so many competing forces when youre dealing with something as huge as infrastructure. Its easy to say well, youve got a trillion dollars actually, weve got 2 trillion of need. We cant afford to do that anymore, play small ball. Not if were going to stay competitive as a country, not if were going to lead the world in economic growth. And so one way to do that is for all of us to be involved. And youre here today because you obviously care about this issue. You probably know 50 other people who care about this issue. So im going to ask you to do something. If you write down this number or pull out your smart phone or pda, im going to ask you to text a word to a number so you can electronically sign a petition to support infrastructure and signing investment. If you would text the word build to 52886. Its 52886. I dont see everybody writing this down. Please write this down. This is very important because as we continue to broaden the grassroots support for
Infrastructure Spending<\/a>, we can get this done. We can encourage folks from the left and the right to come together for the good of the country with the leadership of the white house to get this thing done. And ill mention one last thing, and that is spending or pardon me, paying for the spending of this this massive project. There is no one solution. And as terry says, his
Union Supports<\/a> an all of the above approach as does the
National Association<\/a> of manufacturers. You can find that in this building to win document. There are copies of that in the back. This is a document we reloosed last year, something the
Trump Campaign<\/a> picked up on and the
Trump Administration<\/a> has been looking to as a guide for their proposal that should come out very soon. Youll see amenue of potentialfunding options. It is not kpautsed by any means. But it is simple to say there are many things we can do to pay for the spending on this. So certainly a gras tax increase should be on the table. But so should so should technology. And i know that that sometimes is a third rail when were talking about
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>s. But lets be real. Again, virginia, led the way when it came to smart pass or smart tag. And that allowed digital pay fors if you will for
Public Private<\/a> partnerships as well as public projects as well. Technology is key to the future in this, i think, as well as some of these other prupolesles. Should we be changing the infrastructure we investment in, whether its broadband in rural areas or investment of the flow of goods . I mean at the end of the day as we look at the if funding issue, we should be looking at the technology issue. I dont think shaigs be separate and apart. And what are the infrastructure needs of this country . I do think as we do that, focus on where our infrastructure is broken. And i think thats pretty easy to do. When we were talking about backstage, when can we do to improve our infrastructure, look, were falling apart. Were proud americans all of us, but were falling apart and were falling behind. And what the american societies of
Civil Engineers<\/a> gave us a d plus. And theres a presentation theyve fraughten more than i know. I know when i brought a d plus home, and did that plenty of times, my father used to say we have a problem here, and at the end of the day youre not going to like the solution but theres going to be solution. And kind of liken where we find ourselves today with our overall infrastructure, water, energy, and roads and bridges of what are we going to do about it, which goes to the issues weve been talking about. But its undeniable because in our union we highlight the problem all the time because some people brush it off. But at the end of the day, how do you brush off one in four bridges are structurally deficient . How do you brush a off each day motorests make 188 million trips across structurally deficient bridges . How do you brush off in the next few years were going to have a 2 trillion investment shortage in infrastructure. And how do you brush off theres 240,000 water main leaks per year in the
United States<\/a> wasting 2 trillion of
Drinking Water<\/a> . I mean the facts speaks to itself. And theres a whole host of more facts that asce will talk about. But it highlights the problem. And as jay said its in the faces of each and every one of us as americans and its in the face of our economy, in the face of creating world class, middle class jobs, good labor standards and protections, and its high time we do something about it. This week is encouraging for no other reason that a group of individuals that i think we may not see it completely the same, but we know what the problem is and were here to find solutions. And i think working with this administration who is committed to it and hopefully by
Getting Congress<\/a> to finally address the longterm funding needs for infrastructure, we might be able to get something done. Terry, sorry to hear about that d plus. Hopefully we were able to pull that grade up back then. I actually would have done anything to bring home a d plus. Your membership is not quite at a record high, but youre bumping up half a million members. Youve come a long way. Lets say theres a big infusion of ways to pay for infrastructure, we have the labor force to handle that and theres a second part of that question and it relates to the technology piece jay brought up. How are we training our work force to pepair to deal with the infrastructure in this new age of technology . I quo shawn the head of the building trade school will follow up on this panel. Theres a lot of things we need imp pruchlment on. I come from the trading side of our national union. In the
Building Trades<\/a> our training is second to none, our recruitment is second to none. We recruit out of the military the helmets to hard hats program. We recruit faithbased groups, community groups, minority groups for the work force of the future. Heres why theres worker shortage in some classification and some parts of the country. Yes, there is. Can those worker shortages be filled . They can if we take the regulatory process and make it easier for us to train people that we dont train and then sit not going to work for years on end because of that process, whether it be at the state or federal level. But the training we have to train them now to train the work force of tomorrow. We train 140,000 people in our union every year, and thats not completely unique in the
Building Trades<\/a>. We spend about 110 million doing it. So we can recruit the work force of tomorrow. Heres what im encouraged by, greg, is because of that 5year highway bill, because of the boom of returning veterans to the
Construction Industry<\/a> once again. It wasnt that long ago the
Unemployment Rate<\/a> in construction was 30 . So we lost a whole group of workers that helped build all the projects that we could callout and define before. So if we can get another boom, right now were not busting at the seams but our
Unemployment Rate<\/a> in the
Construction Industry<\/a> is probably 6 i think i saw recently. Relatively low compared to what it was before. But if this boom is to come, there is an infrastructure, a training infrastructure, a recruiting infrastructure with the additional interests of the
Construction Industry<\/a> being a sector of good paying jobs, high road jobs not low road jobs. And i think well stop losing people, with all due respect, wurgers, and middleaged and old to private sector. I know we can train during a person upgrade training as well as apprenticeship training, apprenticeship ready programs and the likes. The infrastructure is there. If we can get the funding infrastructure, we can provide the worker infrastructure. Thats encouraging. I think in this country we always find a way to deliver and step up. Im going to give you a little different aspect on that. Go ahead, jay. So shawn anditary, their unions are best in class for training the work force we need in the future for the building industry. Im concerned about the manufacturing side, and kwiel be very blunt about that. So we have to produce the goodies they use to build our
Infrastructure Projects<\/a>. We have 350,000 jobs in manufacturing that are open today. And thats because we dont have the people with the right skill. Im going to say we are part of that build, because we have not training for those upscale jobs for the upscale workers. And we are tackling that problem. The federal government, the state governments are tackling that problem as well. If we dont tackle this now, were going to have about 200 million jobs that are unfilled. That will add to the burden we have of finding the workers necessary to get this done. Because its from soup to nuts, weve got to have the work force available ready to get this done. And thats enforces how linked we are. And if you find you have a surplus made a mental note. Jay, lets bring this back to you as it relates to fright movement. There was provisions in the fast act on imp provement, projects that enhance fright movements in this country. What do you remember saying about fright movements these days . That we still have issues. There are bottlenecks. There are lack of sufficient routes. You also tie that in with trucking and trucking regulations. And some manufacturers are able to switch between freight you know, rail and trucking. But you have problems with, you know, the highway system as well. So you have the bottlenecks with both of those areas, and freight continues to be a problem. But its improving. Is there a place where you would improve for your members . On infrastructure over all . Yeah. Again, our members utilize our nations infrastructure system in very different ways. Some of our members are purely information based swroeo broadb is a priority. Some need to ship our products through our port system so our slow downs in the ports are louis priority. Theres really not one area where you can say weve got to focus on this first. You have priorities in each of those areas you have to tackle. I think, though, from a general public standpoint, being able to emphasize improvements to and we keep talking about improvements or keep talking about, frankly, patching the deficiencies that exist now. We also have to talk about new things, moving to the future. But i think the way to get the publics aattention on this is to focus on roads and bridges. As terry said, we have an incredible number of structurally deficiencies. 55,000 bridges in this country are structurally defish want. Many of those have been designated for complete destruction and rebuilding. Thats quite frightening. And i think the public will get involved and if you text build to 5886, well continue to build that support. Okay, the two of you, labor and manufacturers have built tremendous claperation in addressing this infrastructure issue. Beyond what we do here and getting that word out, what advice do you have in trying to drive this undoubtedly bipartisan issue . Terry, from your perspective. We need to be relentless. We need to use the talent in this room, the talent around d. C. On infrastructure week. I think, respectfully, weve got to challenge our elected leaders to not stick their heads in the sand on this issue. Its too important to ourchy, our competitiveness to and the whole job equation. So i think jay has given us the number to call. Know were mobilizing and activating our members to call their congressional representatives about the importance of this issue, but the importance of this week, about the importance of rebuilding our crumbling transportation infrastructure. And as jay said well, i encourage you each and every one of you to do the same with the number, because we need to keep peoples feet to the flame. We cannot expect other countries and expect to have a 21st infrastructure in the greatest country that there is on this planet. So how many times have we gathered to talk about infrastructure needs . How many infrastructure weeks have we celebrated together . Nows the time. This is absolutely our moment to make progress on this issue. And why is that . We have a president whos very focused. We have a president who likes to build things. He understands the important of
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>, whether you or your organization supported him or not is totally irrelevant. The fact of the matter is we have a friend in the white house when it comes to
Infrastructure Investment<\/a> and moving to go forward. Congress understand this pressure as well. They may not want to deal with it. And, you know, im not just tloeg that number out 52886 and asking you to text build to it because its a unique gimmick. I actually thing this is a time where public pressure, pressure from business, pressure from labor, pressure from the general public will actually matter and well actually get something done. Were not going to continue to just talk about the 5 year or 7 year transportation funding bills. This is above and beyond. We know this is what we need to make sure our economy grow, to make sure we maintain our mantle of
Economic Leadership<\/a> around the world bhch again, this is our moment. So please dont look at this as we have in the past. Were going to talk about it this week and well move onto other issues. We cant afford to do that. We have to keep the pressure up, and it will pay off. I guarantee it. I want to thank both our panelists and close by saying our youngest airport is in denver. Its 22 years old. Its apreaching its midlife. As we talked about earlier, were moving people across with infrastructure that was opened before the titanic set sale. Weve the advantage to bring awareness to this and raise it around the country. I want to thank our panelists terry and jay. [ applause ] good morning. My name is jacky hidman and i want to thank secretary chao as well as our most prominent state and local government leaders thats going to join us today. Speaker hews, mayor of
Los Angeles Mayor<\/a> gar settee. And my mayor, mayor
Michael Hancock<\/a>. Now, its my honor to join you to commence the infrastructure meeting of 2017. Not only is the chairman and ceo but also as the chairman of the business round tables infrastructure committee. And its in this latter position that ill make a few brief remarks this morning. Now, for those not familiar with business round table, its the nations only organization that exclusively reps ceos of american leading kmaechls. Our 200 ceo member organizations generate more than 6 trillion in revenue avenues and are major employers in every state, providing quality jobs for some 15 million americans. In addition, brt
Companies Invest<\/a> 100 billion annually in research and development and generate more than 400 billion in revenues for their small and mediumsized business supply chains. Finally, brt organizations serve as active corporate citizens to advance communities where they operate, and such they are keyly interested in advantsing american infrastructure. Now, for someone who spent her entire career in the business of delivering all kinds of infrastructure, i cant recall a time in recent history probably nonef us can when its factored so prom independently in the
Public Policy<\/a> dialogue. And for the first time in my life im kind of happy because infrastructure is cool. The time has come for a collaboration. We all know that, that goes beyond political and jurisdictional boundaries. And in that spirit the round table today is introducing a policy blue prpt, a set of over arching principles and specific recommendations for many important infrastructure considerations being undertaken here ein our
Nations Capital<\/a> as well as many state capitals and government offices agrausz the chronty. So for the purpose of collaboration in this document we offer six guiding principles, each of which provides a
Common Ground<\/a> rallying point to bring americas infrastructure review to fruition. So the first policy point comes support for the business round table for user pay models. Based on the idea that those who most benefit from a particularly infrastructure asset generally should bear its cost. And this principle promotes selfsustaining direct funding with revenue generated by user fees. We all know that. Second, its to unlock the full potential of private investment. Weve heard a lot of about that and will hear a lot about that in infrastructure development. Like other countries have done, and i think we know in the u. S. Only 34 states have in place laws that make it easier for the private sector to invest in infrastructure. Wed like to see more of that. The third principle calls for prioritying investments for max mam public benefits, taking a return approach thats not always been taken in the past. Now whether republican or private or whether local, state, or federal for broader impact projects. The fourth policy principle is to put smarter regulatory programs to work that balance efforts to protect public interest. Absolutely critical. While also promoting private investment improving predictability through the development process. Youre going to hear stories today about how to make that happen more efficiently. Fifth is governments can play a powerful role in incentivizing an accelerating inerationivation. Whether they be
Public Private<\/a> partnerships for grants or demonstration projects. And finally last but not least the sixth policy concept is we plan up front to maintain infrastructure assets in the future. With ongoing management, dedicated maintenance, and contingency provisions. Much on the infrastructure challenge weave in this country isnt that we lack infrastructure. Its that we lack well maintained efficiently functioning infrastructure. Now, the six principles embedded in the business round table blueprint along with 40 specific recommendations that are in there, advance common types of infrastructure such as ports and waterways,aveivation and our nations infrastructure. And those 40 specific recommendations also provide idea around improvedfundi fundid financing models. So i encourage you to take a look at this. Inentitled back in business. And its available both on hard copy and online at brt. Org. I can assure you the round table and its 200 ceos and their organizations will work tire lassly with government and other government leaders to return our infrastructure to excellence. Because good infrastructure is quite simply we all know is good business. And good infrastructure delivered innovatively is all around us. And youll hear a couple of examples. Right here in d. C. , for example, the intercoastive water initiative. Its a great project to transfer once urban boulevards and hiways into waterfront recreational areas. Its where mayor gar settee won overwhelming approval numbers for funding m. And its evident in denver where mayor hancock has forged inclusive partnerships. As shown by these leaders, theres never been a better time for us to renew our country. So lets get back in business. So its my pleasure to introduce dr. Gena normate on her 2017 report card on american infrastructure. Thank you. [ applause ] this morning is brought to you by infrastructure. Not just this morning, the first day of infrastructure week or iweek but every morning. When you got up, you turned your lights on, you drank a glass of water, you might have had a bite of breakfast. You threw something in the garbage, you flushed the toilet, you brushed your teeth. You got dressed for the day, and you got here. You traveled to this event, maybe by car, i ubered, maybe by light rail, maybe by plane. Each of these activities would not be possible without infrastructure. Infrastructure is all around us, underneath us, and securing our quality of life. As a
Civil Engineer<\/a> and the president of the
American Society<\/a> of
Civil Engineers<\/a> and its 150,000 members globally, i and my other members are stewards of our infrastructure. Im also a professor of engineering. My grades are due wednesday. And im here to tell you that our country has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to infrastructure. Every four years since 1998 asce has prepared the infrastructure report card using a simple familiar format. Thats that a through f format that everybody here understands. We examine the current infrastructure conditions and needs. We assign grades, we make recommendations to raise those grades. Our committee on americas infrastructure experts from across the country and across 16 categories of infrastructure, reviews data and reports and meet with
Government Agency<\/a> and industry officials assessing each category according to eight key criteria. Capacity, condition, funding, future need, operations and maintenance, of course public safety, rusiesilience, and innovation. So roads, bridges, water, wastewater, waste, down to parks and schools are reviewed. In 2017 aces report card, we graded the nations infrastructure. And as mentioned prior, the overall grade is a d plus, not good. There are copies outside on a table next to the door that you came in from. Pick up your own. Take a look. That d plus is the same grade that we had in 2013, the last time we grade our nations infrastructure. Weve seen imp provement, though. Seven of the 16 categories, so our grade increased. Thats good. Engineers, elected official, the private sector and engineers across the country are innovating those areas and in those areas infrastructure improved. But 12 categories need work. They still have grades in the ds and three more earned cs. That reflects we have a significant backlog of needs across our country. And all of our categories, the infrastructure is interconnected. Its interdependent. Its a system. The best grade, b, was rail. It was the only b on the 2017 report card, and its a result of investment. Investment by private industry in private freight rail. They did a lot to improve and maintain rail infrastructure. Unfortunately,
Passenger Rail<\/a> pulled that grade down or it might have been better than a b. Amtrak probably would not grade themselves better than a b. Theres the good news, i think its good news, is theres a light at the end of the tunnel. Because of grades, were almost at a point where with infrastructure, those grades cant go much lower. O our infrastructure cant successfully serve as the backbone of our economy. As we heard from secretary chao earlier, theres interest in momentum growing at the white house and congress to
Work Together<\/a> on this issue, which an overwhelming majority of americans support. We at asce dont just tell you about the problems facing our infrastructure, those problems becoming selfevident to most americans today. So what im really here to tell you about is theres some steps we the
Civil Engineer<\/a>, the experts who design, build, and maintain all kinds of infrastructure, we know these steps needs to be taken so that we can fix this. If the
United States<\/a> is truly committed to an infrastructure system that is built for the 21st century, we need increased and sustained investment. We need bold leadership. We need thoughtful planning. We need careful preparation not just for now but for our future so that infrastructure is both sustainable and resilient. Im pleased to have heard secretary chao and others touch on many of these solutions. In fact, the president himself has vowed investment in our aging and deteariatoring infrastructure. His planned 1 trillion investment would sure be a good step towards addressing this gap. But after decades of minimal investment and maintenance, our needs are great. By asces estimate our investment and infrastructure needs between 2016 and 2025 total nearly 4. 6 trillion. If you assume that current funding levels are sustained over their same ten years, we are left with 2 trillion of need that wont be covered by
Current Trends<\/a> in investing, and about 1. 1 trillion or a little over half of those needs are in service transportation, our roads, our bridges our transit alone. Leaders from public and the private sector and government must come together for investment of the gross product. Right now its at 2. 5 . If we could just kick it up to 3. 5 . This cannot rely on over financing problem over public funding. Even those in the private market note that those sectors needs are critical. All the funding and the financing in the world will not guarantee widespread i improvements. While stream lining project permitting and approval processes will certainly promote and save time and money, we must talk about how projects are budgeted and planned. Also as george from d. C. Water knows the cost of maintaining and operating infrastructure over their lifetime is pretty substantial when you look at the cost over the lifespan of that infrastructure. Finally, we need to build our infrastructure to pea more sustainable and more resilient, with clear economic and environmental and social benefits. And that infrastructure must be quickly recoverable from significant weather and hazard events. Much of our existing infrastructure system was built 50, 60 years ago. And we as civil engine ears had no intention of that infrastructure having to move into 100year usage. We must look to look technologies, materials, and approaches as we design, as we build and as we improve our infrastructure so that it is prepared for the demands of not just us but for our kids and for our grandkids, for those future generations of americans. Opportunities exist right now to solve our nations infrastructure crisis. As the administration and the u. S. Congress weigh infrastructure legislation in the state and local governments also around the country take action in their communities, but theres more to be done. I dont have a magic wand to wave, to resolve our infrastructure issues. There just isnt an infrastructure money tree from the private sector that will singlehandedly revitalize infrastructure. Solving this crisis will take collective action, and its going to take tough choices. In failing to act, thats going to result in another dplus grade in four years when asce puts out the next infrastructure report card. If we do not close the investment gap, our economy will pay the consequences. That includes how about a 3. Trillion gdp loss, 2. 5 trillion jobs lost by 2025. On top of that, each
American Family<\/a> will lose 3,400 out of their pocket, out of their disposable income each year. That averages about 9 a day, due to what they suffer from poor infrastructure. Sitting in traffic, the cost of goods, just costing more to get to where they purchase them. For many this cost is something they kaept afford. And we can think of better ways to spend that precious dollar. So for about 4 a day, thats the price of a decaf latte, we can solve this problem. Today and throughout infrastructure week, lets commit to a future in which we improve infrastructure and value it as a key to the quality of life and to our economic prosperity, a future in which we are all willing to chip in and pay our fair share to invest in infrastructure. Its just not time to build. Its time to maintain our nations infrastructure. Its time to ensure that its built for the future generations for america that will rely on it for our quality of life in this nation. Thank you. [ applause ] our message in 2017 is its time to build. Its time to build stronger smtss that are resilient to new demands and the 21st century risks. Its time to use new systems to keep our faster and move safer. Time to build better systems that improve our quality of life, create jobs, and accelerate our economy, to build a better america for the next generation. The time to build is now. Thank you. Well, good morning. Im pleased to moderate this panel this morning labeled smarter, safer infrastructure for the 21st century. My name is mike burke, im the ceo of acom, and were in the infrastructure business. We design infrastructure assets in over 150 countries around the world. One of the things that we are hearing a lot about today, and its been quite evident certainly over the past six months is that infrastructure is increasingly in the spotlight, and that spotlight is growing more intense by the day. And so were moving from an era where there was a strong acknowledgement of the infrastructure gap in this country. And weve all heard the numbers 3. 6 trillion infrastructure gap. Theres enormous amounts of data that acknowledges that gap. So were moving from a phase where we acknowledge that gap to a phase where we are going to take action to address that gap thats growing across the country. And so for the first time in this debate we are seeing a very strong alignment along three vectors. An alignment of political support, public support, and private capital being brought to bear to solve this problem. We heard this problem from secretary chao this morning. And were delighted to hear theres a plan underway to develop bringing 200 billion of capital. And more importantly the 200 billion of capital is being brought to leverage in the trillion dollars of capital. Because we are seeing an increasing amount of private gala thats looking to investment in infrastructure both here in the u. S. And abroad. And one of the things thats inhibited the investment in private sector infrastructure has been the regulatory burden. So i was also encouraged by secretary chaos comments that we are going to look to reduce the regulatory burdens that cause us to undertake a 10year process to implement infrastructure. So that was very encouraging. So were seeing this broad bipartisan support. Were seeing it at the congressional federal level that everybodys supporting infrastructure. Maybe not necessarily agreement on how were going to pay for it just yet, but were seeing broad bipartisan support. Were seeing voter support across the country. In the november ballots we saw 200 billion of measures passed to
Fund Transportation<\/a> infrastructure. Were seeing half the states raise their gas tax. I was glad to hear this morning someone else calling an increase of the federal tax level that hant increased since 1993. So were seeing both federal support, state, local, and taxpayer support across this country to bring some sense of urgency to this long over due problem. But whats going to beal important is that as we start taking action and start tackling this problem, that we are focused on the right priority of projects. And so the focus of this panel is going to be answering that question what should we build . We have a wide array of needs, but selecting the right projects to build, the right projects that address both the infrastructure needs, address the economic impact, the environmental impacts, and creates jobs for this country. Weve seen the studies that if we select the right jobs, well have a three times multiplier benefit to the economy if we select the right infrastructure jobs. So today we have a distinguished panel of experts from both the
Public Sector<\/a> and private sector. Theyre going to help us address this challenge. So ill briefly introduce the panelists before we squluchl into the discussion. So immediately to my left is mayor
Michael Hancock<\/a> of the denver, vo colorado. Michael is focused on making sure his city is globally competitive, and all of us are focus oden thaaround the country. But focused on establishing a competitive
Infrastructure Environment<\/a> and also focussed on developing the first smart city in denver. So well hear more about that in a minute. To my far left
George Hawkins<\/a> the ceo and general manager of d. C. Water. And dont be fooled by georges outfit there with all the pins and reg gala. Hes one of the most oig recognized water experts in the world and a being a recovery lawyer myself, i appreciate that. Were going to hear about the ideas being brought to an 80yearold infrastructure asset of d. C. Water. Immediately to my right the president of judy, first of all she has 50,000 employees in the u. S. Devoted to bringing technology for infrastructure. But she also has 06 different manufacturing plants here in the u. S. And we want to make sure those plants stay here and those jobs stay here in the u. S. And we have to have a great
Infrastructure Environment<\/a> to make sure those stay here in the u. S. And well hear more about that. And to my far right
Shawn Mcgarvey<\/a> that represents 3 million workers across this country. Were about to enter this infrastructure boom. And we heard it from a
Previous Panel<\/a> there are some concerns whether we have the right talent to build everything that needs poobe built. So were going to hear more about that in a minute. So let me address the first question to hancock. As the gerp of this smart city station and also the large era tropless area around the denver airport, its truly defining the 211st century infrastructure. Whether its led lighting, smart parking, smart bus shelters, transit and housing, the future our autonomous technologies, all of these are being applied to projects you have in your city. Maybe you can help us understand why is it a smart investment . The phrase smart cities is probably used a little too much and too broadly, but why is it a smart investment for the city of denver to be considering the latest technology. Let me first tell you our laboratory for testing out these new
Smart Technologies<\/a> in collaboration with pan sawn recollect, so its a
Public Private<\/a> effort. They have
Global Solutions<\/a> for a public enterprise. And were looking at things you talked about. Vehicles, and environmental sensing and what have you. The reason its important for us to do this a cup of reasons. One is we need thing about investing enour infrastructure. If youre going to invest in the infrastructure you need to invest in 21st century infrastructure. We need to build our roads built not not just moving cars but different people in different modes of transportation. We also need to ensure we improve the quality of life and the flow in regards of the mode in which theyre moving about. People today are much more connected than they have before. It if we can use to improve their quality of life through the city, then yes were going to improve their quality of life. The reality is panasonic is using that laboratory, that space to come up with solutions to the needs we identify. So its a
Great Partnership<\/a> to help us do that. And finally let me say this, denver and our region is the second
Fastest Growing<\/a> region in the country today. The city of denver is growing by 1,000 people ber month. Were seeing our city increase by 25 new
People Per Day<\/a> in the city of denver. Thats 150,000 people who come into our city putting demands on our roads and our other infrastructure. So the more we can make it a smarter infrastructure, the more we can make a better infrastructure, get them moving about and make it more productive. Maybe we can expand on the technology aspect. One of the issues we see time and time again is the length and duration of implementation of infrastructure is long. What were trying to do is plan and implement infrastructure assets that might not be ready for many, many years. But were trying to embed it with technology thats changing so rapidly. In my home city of los angeles we are looking at a new consolidated rental car facilities, lax, and the question of course is will we have represental cars in ten years . Will we have just
Autonomous Cars<\/a> as rentals. So were trying to think through doing new ways of infrastructure iptechnology, how will you do it in denver . You hit the nail on the head. We have to have
Public Private<\/a> partnership. You all have the ability to loolk further ahead and say we can endicate through oranalytic, look at whats coming, try to get ahead of it. Mayors, governors, have to think further ahead as well. You know, we have to challenge the cities and our people to think further ahead. Sometimes its harder because were in silos and just to your point bureaucratically were just not used to doing that. But we cant take ten years to implement these infrastructure changes. Weve got to think about how we implement the embedding technology. And as we look to improve our rules were looking at
Autonomous Vehicles<\/a> that may not be on our roads for the next five or ten years. Theyre here, but they may not be deployed as we expect them to be in the next five or ten years. But we are preparing for their ultimate domination on our roads. I want to come back to how you priorityize projects. Butre we do that, maybe we can transition to judy on seamans not only has these 60 manufacturing plants and i want to come back to that also on competitiveness here in the u. S. But what time of technology are you seeing that is applicable to
Infrastructure Requirements<\/a> here in the
United States<\/a> . Thank you. And as you said, its all about connecting. We believe in
Technology Today<\/a> and while
Autonomous Vehicles<\/a> are slely emerging and were trying to figure how to deal with it them, right now
Traffic Technology<\/a> is real. We think that today technology is real. But we have to plan today that everything is a sensor. And everything we touch in the internet of things is a sensor. And as we build infrastructure, which goes beyond roads and bridges, as we heard the secretary say, its all about preplanting and having a digital approach with every piece of physical we put out there. So merging the virtual, the logical with the physical. We do have 60 plants here, and we love doing business here. Weve been here 160 years, and im proud to say we are u. S. Local with 150,000 employees in every state. The other thing, though, is we need tools to do this, analytics to do nichs and we have what we call a city
Performance Tool<\/a> weve used enmany cities, san francisco, indianapolis. It also lets you evaluate the environmental impacts. And mayors, governors, people are concerned about carbon and about what these commute and the conjegz means. So we think theres a digital play thats real, thats here today. And we also believe if we instrument and actually use these censors, probably the best example i could give you is the 70 locomotives weve delivered to amtrak for the northeast cordder. I do have the privilegef working in the district ask taking the train quite a bit. Not only do we have, as you can imagine, pretty significant pricroprocessors and information technology, but we view the loam motive as information technology. And the brakes on that system are so sophisticated when we use them, we sell that energy back to the grid. So our idea similar to a lot of mayors and governors, its using digital technology. Its all about moving people more rapidly in our cities, on our highways and in our buildings. Most people are not aware that buildings actually generate more carbon than any other single unit. So when we talk about infrastructure where and talk about building, and i look forward to hearing from you, we think theres just tremendous opportunity to apply
Technology Today<\/a> and take us into the future. We certainly see the benefits of your technology, your products, and many of the assets were involved in. But to switch gears a little bit, because im interested in the competitiveness and environment for manufacturers here in the u. S. As it relates to infrastructure. When we look at back in 2005 the
World Economic<\/a> forum ranked the competitiveness of countries around the world with regard to infrastructure. The
United States<\/a> was number one in 2005. Ten years later we were number 15. We saw a precipitous drop off. We happen sending 2. 5 of our gdon infrastructure. But the competitiveness has dropped primarily due to infrastructure. How are you dealing with that given that you have the choice to locate your manufacturing facilities wherever you choose . We do have the choice, and we want to manufacture here in the u. S. We exported 5. 5 billion of manufactured goods from the u. S. As seamans just last year across the world. But some of it we dealt with ourself. We put in rail spurs and a rail spur in our fort iowa facility where we build very large wind blaeds. Think about a football field long blades. And we actually work would the state of kansas to increase the infrastructure in the offramps so we could get our
Wind Turbines<\/a> on and off the road to deliver to the
United States<\/a>. So some of this weve taken oourselves, some of this weve worked in public and private partnerships. Were absolutely local. And to do that were willing to invest. But we need a regulatory framework. And we welcome infrastructure activity kind of across the country. We do believe its local. And i sincerely believe this is not one unique ubiquitous answer for the country, which is why we work with the governors and mayors. And were going to continue to do that in every state. Fantastic. So, george, maybe we can move to you. Its clear that d. C. Water has been recognized around the world as one of the most innovative water facilities anywhere. And i think its its a real testament to what you you and your team have done there address a problem weve heard a
Previous Panel<\/a> talked about this morning, saying we are looking at infrastructure assets that were built around the time the titanic was built. And the last time i saw you, i was on a tour at the blue plains facility, which an 80yearold water facility here in d. C. ,
Water Treatment<\/a> plant that now treats over a billion gallons a day i believe, george. But its an 80yearold facility. And mow you have figured out how to bring the latest technology to that 80yearold asset and ensure its not only producing efficiently but also producing entirely new energy forms from that. So maybe you can help us understand not only how youre doing that but how you can gettingport from your rate payers to be able to implement these solutions . Thats darn good water. I just realized i am not drinking my clients project right now. First of all, glad to be here. How many from the district or surrounding metropolitan region, you are customers of ours. We do nothing without the support of our customers. And the core
Business Case<\/a> is this glass of water. The carafe of water on your table, im glad its d. C. s finest right there is probably costing this chamber 0. 5 . When you have public water the cost is so low. This is probably 80 cents, or a dollar. For a six pack of these youre paying for all the water on the table. Now, im really dplated to be here, too, because were water. I love roads and bridges, i drive on them every single day, but waters got to be in the equation. People asked me how many jobs you support at p. C. Water, and i go all of them. Every single job, this bill if you dont have
Fire Suppression<\/a> we call it enriched water not wastewater. Every single job depends on the service. And people ask me how many lives you support, all of them. Its the food clan. The you provide. All of them. Youre investing in water by the best
Public Health<\/a> outcome you can get and the best public jobs. Thats incredible. They came out with a survey just the end of last week, really focussing on today, very similar numbers to what you see for support of infrastructure, a very high support for
Infrastructure Investment<\/a> was 67 . For water, the public graded it 15 age points higher than that. So the investment in water is something that people support. They get it. This is about my life and my job every single day. So im really glad to be here. Now on to your question, ill give it to you in a great example. This is why investments in water in particular are so good. We have blue plain, the largest advanced
Water Treatment<\/a> plant in the world, serves 750 square miles in this region, thats why all of you are customers. Every single day, we generate the crud that weigh do not want in the potomac, we remove it to keep those rivers of our city clean. 1200 tons a day. A tanker truck is about the length of this stage, and theres 60 of them a day. In the oldfashioned world, that was called waste, thats why it was a waste
Water Treatment<\/a> plant. What we learn from ecology is the waste of one organism is the food of another. You could generate power from that. We couldnt fit a standard digester at blue plains, because we have so much throughput, we didnt have the space. So we looked worldwide for a technology and found an innovation in northern you know which essentially cooks that stuff at
High Temperature<\/a> and high pressure, drops the volume, you put it in a flash tank, boom, all the cells explode. Then the sludge goes into the digesters, and the bugs are like, yes they eat faster, generate more energy and we are now the largest clean
Energy Producer<\/a> in blue plains. Winds great, solars great. Ours is permanent, 24 hour a day, base load power. At the end of that, we have four 400 or 500 tons. Look up bloom soil. Com. Were going to sell it as a nutrientbased soil amendment which we can return right into the system as a revenue maker. Heres the key. You heard the story about how much water is lost to water main breaks and leaks. If you invest in repairing and putting in sensors, you reduce leaks, that reduces the cost to that enterprise of water. You have an immediate cost savings, not just the cost thats out the door. Yes, we spend a lot of money on this digester phase, but we make money constantly. Theyre very prone to the kind of investments the private sector like, we like to make them as a public agency, because we generate revenue. Every gallon thats not wasted, thats money saved. Every kilowatthour produced is money saved. Every pound of biosolid we sell on the market, all sorts of things, the projects we can do that improve service,
Public Health<\/a>, jobs and save money that we can share with investors is really astronomical, and its happening today, right now. Thank you, thank you. So lets move to shawn. We have, you and i have previously talked about the challenges we have with having enough workers to satisfy this infrastructure boom, and you used a phrase the last time we talked that this isnt a just in time delivery model. We have to have better certainty to train to meet that demand. And weve heard a panelist this morning say we cant train some people, put them on the bench for a year waiting for that job to come along. But there is so much talk in the press about the lack of
Skilled Workforce<\/a> to implement infrastructure. Do you think thats accurate . And maybe you can give us a sense for how, if we are short, how short are we, and what is your organization doing to add more to the 3 million members you already have. Well, thanks mike, and thanks in the chamber for asking me to participate. Much like my colleague said, there are some spot shortages. In some areas of the country, in some specific skills sector, there is some shortage. But theres also, you know, a gap in seats in classrooms that we have in those particular areas of the country, where were either, its a political or an ideological void that we and the buyers of
Construction Services<\/a> cant seem to get over. When it comes to, you know, who can produce, recruit, train the most highly skilled, safest, most prepared workforce in the world, i think that we do. You know, were unchallenged in that. But in certain areas of the country, where we have a history that might be 40, 50 years old where we had problems where the engagement wasnt great, where we havent been able to break through and get that second bite of the apple and say wait a minute, if there really is a shortage and they can produce a product and im in sales and sometimes it aggravates some of my of people, but i sell labor. You have to have another option. So if youre going to guy from us, just like if were going to buy a turbine from seimens. We have capacity, 1600
Training Centers<\/a> in the u. S. You know youre a contributor to many funds. If we were in a k12 school district, wed be the fifth largest in the
United States<\/a>, if we were a university system, wed be after california. At our peak, right before what people refer to as the
Great Recession<\/a> in the
Construction Industry<\/a> you know as the great depression. About 72,000 people in seats. Were creeping back up to those numbers now. But heres the thing. We only use our facilities half the time. So we theoretically could double the number of people we put through training. We were on apprenticeship programs where were targeting disadvantaged communities, communities of colors, women, just last year we placed over 2500 transitioning military active duty personnel into the trades. So its a head scratcher to me a little bit when i read these and we try to respond to them, whether theyre in the wall street journal or others who sometimes theres an ulterior motive about why people want to project this workforce shortage, when theres an option. Were an option. Theres lots of good contractors we dont have a relationship with who have invested in training workforce. But the way our structure works is more conducive. Its across multiple employer, and youre not making a 20,000 investment into an employee and then all of a sudden he or she gets a better offer and leaves you. We spread the risk on the training and operate hiring halls where we can dispatch these people. So im encouraged that we can meet the demands, but, as you spoke to, this mentality of just in time manufacturing does not work. Were talking about
Human Capital<\/a> here. You need to earn as you learn in our apprenticeship system in the
Construction Industry<\/a>. That means you need a job, just like our manufacturing friends in the room. You dont produce a product unless you know theres a pipeline of demand for that product. We dont recruit and train people unless theres actual jobs existing for them. When the bugle blows, we are ready to go and im confident of that. So clearly the jobs side of this is so important to getting the right public support. But the other issue that keeps coming up is the type of job relative to technology, and we heard judy talk about the increasing application of technology. We heard george talk about that. We heard the mayor talking about it. The type of infrastructure that were implementing today has so many more
Technology Components<\/a> to it, and its requiring a different type of worker. Maybe you could tell us what your organization is doing to train todays workforce to adapt to the
Smart Technology<\/a> applications that were seeing. Well, we work quite closely with the manufacturers of the tools and products that are used in todays
Construction Industry<\/a>. So if you were going to go into our
Training Centers<\/a>, you would see computer laboratories, people on job sites dispatched with ipads and other electronic devices. The evolution of the industry, and in thinking about this, listening to the speakers this morning. You know, in some industries, whereas the high profit incentive, they have really adopted and innovated quickly, because that creates more income into the enterprise. Constructions been a little, a little slower, and i think its always a complaint. How do we become more productive, more fishbility. But i will tell you, to give you one example, were building two
Nuclear Plants<\/a> in the south. One is for
Georgia Power<\/a> and southern company. Weve about 6,000 people on that site today. The last one we built of that size and magnitude, finishing up in the 80s, we had about three times the size of the workforce there. So that will show you, while maybe not quick enough, the technology is involved in adapting in the
Construction Industry<\/a>, and we are getting more efficient, but generally, we work with manufacturers, suppliers, anybody. We bring them right into our
Training Centers<\/a> and work with them on their tools and their training in integrating it into our
Training Programs<\/a> for either journeyman upgrading as terry talked about or new trainings in our program. So theyre getting the latest in
Technology Training<\/a> as theyre on the job site, applying the technology. Okay. Thank you. So george, we talked about the way that you have adapted innovation into an 80yearold asset and met many other older lived assets. What could other areas of infrastructure learn from what you have done on the water side. Weve talked about the bridges, rail that is a very oldlived asset that needs updating. What can the other entities learn from you . Its a great question, and its one we think about a lot in water. Water is one of the more vulcanized services that is in every community. Theres 53,000
Drinking Water<\/a> utilities in the country. 53,000. 12,000 to 15,000 wastewater facilities. The challenge is not that portion. Its for a lot of the smaller utilities, getting to the gate. And this is where were working with the chamber and trades and unions, is how you create models that produce the up front cost of eavvaluating the up front, s the cost is reduced. And what tends to happen in the water sector is that each place does it over and over and over again, and up front as opposed to investing the money and return on investment, everything weigh do now at d. C. Water when we do it, were thinking how would we turn this into a model . I think every
Treatment Plant<\/a> in the
United States<\/a> should be generating power, but if every single one of them has to do the five years of evaluation that we did, it probably wont, even for a project that can return money to the investor or the utility, thats a cashpositive project, by creating models and disseminating them through chamber and enterprises to make that up front transaction reduced so you can get to the return, thats the fastest way to drives
Infrastructure Investment<\/a> in the country. I think like were seeing the technology is here today,
Public Private<\/a> partnerships are real today. Were building the bright line, from
West Palm Beach<\/a> to orlando totally private and financed. We have actually built hospitals, and we heard the secretary talk about v. A. Hospitals in canada that are privately financed and dealt with on a transaction basis. I think it goes beyond toll roads which is where a lot of people go. It goes to denver, to the water to the grid. Every icon we see up there has a potential for private public partnerships, and nows the time to use models that have been successful and innovate some new ones. I think thats a great point. We look at other developed countries around the world where 10 of the infrastructure assets are implemented through
Public Private<\/a> partnerships. Here in the u. S. Its been 1 . So we still have a lot of barriers to break through, but i think that is part of the solution and hopefully what we heard the secretary say this morning, the federal government is expecting to pass an infrastructure bill that will facilitate private investment and unleash this private capital. But mary hancock, im interested in your thoughts. What is limiting other cities from implementing some of these infrastructure initiatives. Your citys done a great job with the air oerotropolis. Let me say i dont think ive ever been more inspired by water, george, ive enjoyed listening to you. A couple things. To your point, michael, we have to get over the fact that we have a very aging infrastructure in this country. One before we can get to the point of implementing new,
Exciting Technology<\/a> we have to fix the infrastructure that we have which has gone neglected for the last couple decades, and mayors across the country have come together, almost unanimously have called for working with the federal government to catch up on the aging infrastructure. And once we do that, i think we see ourselves become much bolder, much more aggressive in terms of engaging around more
Innovative Technologies<\/a> and innovative infrastructure. Secondly, judith was absolutely correct. Mayors across this country today, and i think were going to see much bolder action from mayors with regards to
Public Private<\/a> partnerships. State governments cannot address the infrastructure or the upgrades to the infrastructure alone. We, we can think smarter, faster and bolder if we have private sector partners with us. In fact, we were able to complete our aline because we had a private partner who helped us complete that process. Our, you mentioned the station next. Were doing that partnership with panasonic. We could not make the kind of advances that we are making with looking at some of these technologies without a private partner. So i think catching up with our aging infrastructure on one end and find being the resources to do that and then fully engaging and moving forward with
Public Private<\/a> partnerships is the next step for cities and i believe quite frankly in the next revolution with regards to
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>. Thank you. So as our time is winding down here, i want to thank the panelists up here today. En this, i was very excited to moderate this panel today, because it really showed how the
Public Sector<\/a>, the private sector, labor needs to come together to solve this problem, and so we need great leadership from mayors and freiggreat leadp from innovative thinkers and private technology and manufacturers and great leadership from our labor unions that are training the next generation of workers. So this panel is a great example of how the
Public Sector<\/a>,
Public Sector<\/a> and labor needs to come together. Im proud to moderate this group. So thank you all for participating. Thank you. [ applause ]. We must do this. We can do this. State and local leaders are delivering plans for their communities. At the ballot box, voters are saying yes to
Infrastructure Investment<\/a>s, but its not enough. To close the gap, we need investment from all levels of government, federal, state and local as well as the private sector. Our infrastructure challenges are national in scale. From the
Transcontinental Railroad<\/a> to the panama canal, to the interstate highway system. Federal leadership has transformed america. We need a national plan. Now is the time to build a national plan. Now is the time to build. So the message of that video, introductory video is exactly right. It is time to build. We must do this. We can do this. And my panel today will demonstrate that we are doing this at the local and state level. But we still need a national plan. Because our needs are national in scope and scale. I appreciation the secretarys comments from earlier today because it demonstrates that they are looking for a collaborative approach for a federal plan, so i think thats very good for everyone. Good morning everyone. Im rod slim, chairman and ceo of hntv, we have worked with clients around the country. Were seeing the transportation higher on the federal agenda than its been in many, many years. In addition, states and cities have made significant commitments to fund major transportation investments with widespread voter support, i would add. In november 2016 election alone, 22 states, voters approved ballot measures to provide for budget extensions and new funding for transformation investments and more legislative proposals every day. So no doubt, we must repair aged and hardworking assets that are seriously deficient. We must make investments strategically so they leap frog us, not just playing catchup to where would should have been decades ago. So its fitting that the last panel today is titled collaboration, comprise and consensus, building a blue print, because that is exactly what its going to take. Were fortunate today to have a panel who have been able to take remarkable actions in their cities and states to build support and consensus for needed
Infrastructure Improvements<\/a>. We have a panelist to help us see the role of private infrastructure. So were honored to have greg hughes, speaker of the utah house. Eric garcetti from los angeles, and chief operating officer of the
Carlyle Group<\/a>. So maryor, id like to start wih you. Many groundbreaking things going on in los angeles. The largest
Transportation Investment Program<\/a> in the history of the
United States<\/a>. You like the way that sounds. I do like the way that sounds. Youre leveraging multiple sales tax measures expected to generate 120 billion over the next 30plus years. What were some of the strategies you employed in order to reach consensus with, you needed twothirds but with over 70 of the voters. Thank you. Thank you for being the moderator. Its great to be with greg and glen as well. Thank you to all of you and to tom donohue. Thank you to all the folks who are here. Infrastructure outside of all of us is like the least sexy thing to talk about in the world. Once you get into it you realize how amazing it is and how important it is. Its difficult for us who are elected officials to say hey, everybody, infrastructure and have your average american go awesome, you know, but once you
Start Talking<\/a> about how long is it taking you to get home, to get to your daughter to tuck her in at night, or were you able to take that job or find an affordable place to live . Or next time an earthquake hits or that bridge that you drive over every day, are you sure its still strong . People can see this as talking about human health and human quality of life. And i think its always important for us to translate that back down to that human scale. In los angeles, to begin that conversation, we realize, look, los angeles has more roads than any city in america. The worst traffic in america, the number one port in america. And the busiest origination and destination airport in the nation. So we have a lot of needs. We have bridges. Earthquake country. We have enough roads to go from los angeles to mumbai and back again, just to kind of visualize how much of the streets we have to pave and it was crumbling and falling apart. So what we started to do to bring together a coalition is we went to our part nears in the private sector, thank you for your support and to our unions, but more importantly, to a lot of stakeholders, folks like aarp, who have never been involved before, talking about how difficult it is for seniors to get around because there is no
Public Transportation<\/a> that works for them. Bicycle advocates who may not be buying their own cars but want smooth roads because theyre on uber or lyft or bicycles. And we listened to a regionwide approach. We created those connection and said look, if were going to the ballot, and in california we need a twothirds vote. We better show them how theyre going to get bang to the buck. I know well come back to this. But we tried to use the idea of lerge, that this would be a combination of local and federal dollars, and there would be something in it for everyone, not in the traditional
Christmas Tree<\/a> in gifts for everyone, but multiple modes of transportation and at the end of the day would get you home to tuck that daughter in bed a little early. I will confess we were a couple points behind two weeks out. We switched our ad to an ad where i was driving in a car just on a weekend thing, here we are in rush hour traffic and i turned to the camera and i said the only problem is, its saturday at noon. It hit people at a visceral level where they realize, heres number of jobs, the billions of dollars, the number of rail lines, thats how we all talk about things. Thats how engineers talk about things, politicians talk about things, but human being, not that were not human beings, but real americans talk about it in that level, and that was our break through. Let me go to speaker hughes. Im not the only person whos noticed whats accomplished in utah under your leadership. Utahs got the reputation of delivering big, complex jobs, very fast. Youve also been an outspoken champion of transit. And youve been able to build extensions of right rail and
Commuter Rail<\/a>. So can you share with us how a legislator and what some might consider a red state would bifld consensus around creative transportation, infrastructure proposals. So its also a pleasure to be here with
Public Policy<\/a>makers,
Public Servants<\/a> and, as youll notice, it is a, its not restricted only to rps or democrats. When i was, ive been in the less lature since 2002, our state legislature. I was majority whip for two terms and in my second term as speaker of the house. I also had an opportunity to serve while i was in the legislature and i was majority whip on our transit board. I was asked by the mayors in my area that i live in to serve on the board, and i said, look, i might not be your best guy to be on transit board. I dont know that i buy into it. Maybe its a little oversubsidized social service. I thought it was a costly way to move people. And they said, well we like, i think the board should have that kind of perspective from the less lature to know that thats kind of the climate that werary working here in utah. What i learned as a board member was that the trips every year, the 40 million trips, the trips that were on mass transits were on light rail, the system we had at the time, it was displacing the cars or delaying the congestion failure that were happening on the roads that i was charged as a law maker to have to try to find the resources for and the tax money for to build and accommodate the kind of growth were seeing in this region of the country. Fastestgrowing area since my time in the legislature. Were one of the fastestgrowing areas metropolitan areas as the mayor from denver pointed out as well. So i got a crash course. We had this big opening at utah valley university, your favorite school. Side joke. That it was a 30 million, 40 million interchange. It took a while, it was a big deal for us to get that thing built. The engineers, the transportation engineers will love it. Its like a lab rinse. Theyve got all kind of ways to make sure your car doesnt go the wrong way. Our d. O. T. Cabinet member mentioned to me as were having the
Ribbon Cutting<\/a>, were going to hit congestion failure on this freeway in about five years, sorry, i didnt mean to did you hear that . That sound sums it up. I thought, what a colossal, i mean, it really was hard to get the funding and get this done and to see this kind of failure, just west of that is a
Commuter Rail<\/a> we building and that i knew about because i was on the board, and i thought that
Commuter Rail<\/a> has got to be successful. Weve got to see bus
Rapid Transit<\/a>s and things happening there, because we cannot have congestion in just five years. So what we learned was, and what i began to share with my colleagues is that this multimodal infrastructure, as a republican, as a proper role of government, transportation and the governments ability to provide it, so that commerce can occur, so that quality of life, so that people can get where they need to go, this is our role. This is what we do. And we cant be married to just one mode, just picking the winners of how people should get around, i hate bicycles, i got to tell you. Im a grown man. Theyre all the rage. Everybody loves them. Youve got to put the bike lanes out there, even have the rental bikes that everybody seems to love, because thats one less car in my way, one less car you have to find parking or structure parking for. All these modes, what weve learned in utah, its all hands on deck, every mode that the public wants to use, we want to provide. And that was a learning experience for me as a policymaker, and it was done more because of our growth out of practicality. Its a necessity for us. We have to find those other modes, because we cant afford to go stagnant or to see that congestion grow. Really a question for both of you and the mayor, but how do we get the transit component, get more support across the country at a
National Level<\/a>. It feels like it kind of wanes when it gets to the high level. What can we do to well, ill tell you, the republicans are your problem sometimes. Because threy have that same mindset that i described before i went on the transit board. Theres a paradigm shift. If you, you just have to say, look, these roads, the rail, the bus
Rapid Transit<\/a>, theyre not republican, theyre not democrat. They really are essential. The problem is, as you say, mayor, you cant put it on a flyer, you cant mail that your infrastructures crushing it. Your constituents arent looking at that and thinking, wow, thats, thats a big victory, and so i think what we have to do is we have to really have those conversations, and technically in areas that are growing, where your troptd areas are growing or youre a highgrowth state. Your economy grows. Your, and the opportunities for
Public Private<\/a> partnership are the best in the transit space. I mean, you cant put, maybe you can put a toll road in montana. Im not from montana, so i dont know. So it doesnt seem as intuitive as when you go to hong kong. We dont have the dense its of hong kong, thank goodness, but the principles are the same. They dont put a dime of public dollars into their transit. Its all paid for from the investment above those stations. Its all paid for from their fare box recovery, but the kind of development that occurs around those fixed stations and how, and so when you show that, and when you show those kinds of
Public Private<\/a> partnership opportunities, i think you can start to break down some of the political walls weve seen for so long, myself but others have to do a better job of that. I would build on that, well said. Jobs and economic development. I mean think about it receiight. The administrations talking about a middle class jobs. We have a disappearing middle class, what is that low skilled, medium skilled, not needing a
College Degree<\/a> doing. In los angeles we are going to create 465,000 jobs from measure m. We think its the largest jobs producing in the country. Somebody who lives by one of these rail lines cannot only have a five year job but a 40year career because were doing 15
Rapid Transit<\/a> line and fixing roads everywhere in the city. Second piece is now we can develop an
American Manufacturing<\/a> base as well. We love the companies that we work with, and we love being open to global companies, but theres not a single
American Company<\/a> that builds trains for transit anymore. We went to the port. L. A. Building 2. 5 billion. Theres no american manufacturer for that equipment. This is a central plank of something you can export, that is that middle class, blue collar job. And were creating it in los angeles. Mirror what were doing, get their this passed. Everybodys getting more people. Even red cities and blue cities alike are going to have more and more people and we just dont have the compassionity. L. A. Is the perfect example. We have more land than anybody else. You can fit like 15 cities in our footprint and still have room to breathe. Its coming to every successful town. Salt lake city, oklahoma city, denver, places, tallahassee, coming to places where america continues to grow, and this countrys still growing, thankfully. If we dont prepare for it, shame on us, because theres going to be a lot of people stuck in cars in traffic. Glen, youre with the carr lyle group, who is one of the largest private investors in the world. And you also have
Infrastructure Investment<\/a> worldwide. The
Trump Administration<\/a> is advocating for private financing, private investment as part of a national plan. So what role do you see, role and capacity does private sector have for investment in u. S. Infrastructure as we move forward . Thank you, and by the way, thanks to the chamber for hosting this whole week around the country. I dont think theres a doubt in anybodys mind just how critical this question is. I think the tougher question is, how in the world do we get past telling everybody how important it is. How do we get on with it . So weve got a framework that weve been told by secretary chao is coming. And that will be taken into legislation, which is a high priority. Governors and mayors and speakers who prioritize all of this. But the number one question that constantly comes out is how do you fund it . How do you fund it . The mayor and i were chatting beforehand, and he said funding is his biggest challenge. The private sector is funding infrastructure all over the world, billions and billions of dollars, everywhere around the world, except for here in any large way. Why is that . Quell, t well, the primary reason is there is not a system at eck project or a systematic market yet in north america, in the
United States<\/a>. Why . Is it because every project is snowflake . Its got its own design, its own financing, its got its own approval process, and as a result the private sector, trying very hard to bid on those projects struggles. And so the number one comment i hear around the world, and ive been around the world the last three weeks from investors around the world who would love to invest in u. S. Infrastructure is i dont know if its really going to happen. I dont know if its going to happen in any kind of scale. Now the president has talked about a trillion dollars of
Infrastructure Spending<\/a> need. Is that a big number . Its an enormous number. Is it a number that actually intimidates the private sector over a tenyear period . Not at all. So think about it. 100 billion a year. Thats all you got to do for ten years. The
Municipal Bond<\/a> market is a 3. 8 trillion dollar market. Could you increase by 10 a year . Absolutely. Theres 70 billion of infrastructure funds in north
America Today<\/a> ready to go, just waiting. The challenge is, that money will go to australia, southeast asia, europe, canada, unless we actual lay g actually get ourselves moving here. So my encouragement for all of us is go ahead and acknowledge, yes, infrastructure is a huge problem. What are we going to do . And i think one of the challenges is, were trying to boil the ocean. I had a great mentor at the
Carlyle Group<\/a> for a long time. A gentleman named lou gersner. And he used to say, guys, dont try to boil the ocean, lets pick things that are doable. And so i challenge us all to not find the most complicated projects and not find the absolute perfect project, but lets find projects that can get done. Lets find projects that can actually be funded. Lets find projects that we can in fact use as templates to help develop this market and unleash this capital that so much wants to invest in the
United States<\/a>, because its the best place in the world to invest. I got to judgmenten in for just one second. I got permission. So this is perfectly articulated. I spent the last three days, the end of the week hoisting the
International Olympic<\/a> committee, because its been too long since this country has hosted the olympics. Dont forget saltd lake city did a great job. One of the important things is our
Olympic Village<\/a> would be along a subway that were already building. We opened it up about a decade and a half ago but were extending it all the way, it will be a 20 minute ride from the west side to downtown, fast faster than a car with no traffic. We know theres money out there. Im going to be meeting with secretary chao. Its intriguing to the next administration that could roll out, and we bring over half the money for that final extension, and this would top us out. Or top us off to be able to get that done instead of in 2035, in 2024. Now it gets better. El elon musk, who you dont usually want to bet against tweeted out that he thought that tunnel
Boring Technology<\/a> hadnt been improved in a long time. This is highly difficult, technical. He goes and buys one of the boring machines in seattle that was up there. Digs a hole and invites me over, because he said do i need a permit for any of these things . Yeah, why dont i come visit. Suddenly a hole in the ground where spacex and tesla is, hes starting to bore. Because he thinks you can do their this faster with smaller tunnels. Even if you did it by 10 , that would be a huge add value. Innovation, the federal piece, the local piece, whats missing . The private sector. So we now have an office at l. A. Metro called the office of extraordinary innovation. Sounds like something out of a
Harry Potter Department<\/a> of magic, but it is actually real. And companies can now come to us and pitch us on how to finish projects. So it used to be right. Heres the snowflake, weve already designed it, bid on it. Thats not very much fun for a company and much more expensive for a municipality. We got almost like the xprize, millions of dollars of free nd. Were better off. You need all four of those things. Thats what i think secretary chao talked about. And that money is waiting, but youve got to spend it the right way, show that were innovating, show that theres public and private, national, federal and local money. To the washington policymakers and people who can influence them, tom cochrans here, the head of the u. S. Conference of mayors, he helped point me chair of the task force of infrastructure for
United States<\/a> mayors, we need to make sure that the federal dollars stay and expand, but make us accountable to get those dollars, and i think the private sector dollars will flow in. This most capitalist country has figured out a way to do p3s. Lets get with it. The interesting addition to that, mayor, we think about p3s as the de novo greenfield projects. Theres some hot lanes on the beltway that are kind of greenfield. But what weve seen around the world is that the most effective way to in fact invest in new projects is to liberate capital thats trapped in existing infrastructure. And the private sector thinks about businesses having an enterprise value. And
Public Ownership<\/a> thinks about annual proceeds and revenue. And so if we actually find a way to liberate the enterprise value that exists in some of these publiclyowned infrastructure facilities, we can take that capital and redeploy it in new projects. The
Australian Government<\/a> has probably been the best at this most recently. In new south wales, which is a state that sydney sits in and its not quite as big as los angeles, has about 9
Million People<\/a>, they have generated through the use of a recycling program, of existing infrastructure assets, about 25 billion australian dollars in five years and redeployed that in new
Infrastructure Projects<\/a>. And so when we think about funding we always forget that one of the greatest sources of funding that we have is our existing asset base. I was really pleased to hear secretary chao mention that this morning. Its a tool kit. As you said, theres going to be lots of things that dont fit this exact model, but we have a lot of assets in this country that do. And private
Sector Investment<\/a> likes those kinds of asits and it can liberate value that can be deploy bid yed by you and yo others. You also have p3 legislation in utah. But youve utilized this all hands on deck, what would you think is a balance of those things from major infrastructure . Necessity std mother of invention. What weve done is take these projects, or making sure that the projects youre looking at doing have the greatest effect is that we have a regional plan. We got together or state d. O. T. And our
Transit Authority<\/a> and vision utah. And we had a big collaborative, and this is years ago, a big collaborative effort saying, okay, in the year 2040, how many people do we think are going to live in this area . And we reversed engineered back from that, how do you fitd 3
Million People<\/a> in 130mile range, which we call the wasatch front. And you cant just do it by roads. You cant just pick a mode. And, as you saw that collaborative effort take place for that regional plan, it starts to winnow down into the very projects that you think youre going to be able to get the greatest leverage from. So we have on the books the ability for our
Transit Authority<\/a> to par tas paid in those. What were trying to do is we know when we look at the gap of funding from where we need to be in the year 2040, where we are now, its a pretty big gap, but how did we, how do we close that gap . Well, in 2015, the
First Time Since<\/a> 96 that weve been able to touch or gas tax. Were a red state. Raising taxes is not what republicans do. And red states their legislatures do. But what happens with the unit tax, 24 cents a gallatins to buy less and less year and year. Cars are traveling further on a gallon of gas, so because of this urgency and because we have policy makes and
Public Servants<\/a> who have seen where we need to be by 2040, weve converted from a unit tax to a percentage. And that is going to help us grow, and that fund will pay for a lot of expansion. And it doesnt do it now. Weve relied on bonding and autorelated sales tax. Its going to be a gas tax thats revitalized, but we developed the political will to do that by understanding the longer range challenges that we were facing, but we had to not boil the ocean. We couldnt just say this is where we need to be then. We have to get to where we are now and find those projects that are going to get us closer, the funding formulas but also those projects that are doing it, we have a
Transportation Task<\/a> force going on this year between our two sessions saying how can we, on the funding side as a state, say, if we want to leverage a dollar, show me five ways youre going to use that dollar by way of transportation infrastructure, and were going to fund as a state or use those dollars for those projects that really look at multimodal transportation infrastructure. Secretary chao spoke earlier about streamlining to get projects done faster. Your states been very successful at that. You have the fastest billion dollar project ever delivered in the u. S. , i think its the i15 proo jekt, and 70 miles of rail line down in seven years, two years under budget. What recommendations would you have to the federal government as we start to talk about a national plan. What needs to be in that . So, as state on our i15 corridor that goes through utah county, which is one of the
Fastest Growing<\/a> counties in america, we didnt use federal funds because of the time it would take and the cost that was associated with those federal funds. We did use the federal funds on the five lines that we built. Wed like to get into an environment and i think secretary chao is pointing to an environment where those arent so prohibitive that youd sooner not use federal funds than to use them. Of course we all can use those. But heres what we did. We had both of those projects happening at the same time. We i15 corridor happening at the same time we had the five lines. So we had the ceo of our
Transit Authority<\/a> and carlos, our d. O. T. Head or cabinet member, we would close down areas in the middle of the night at the same time, we would coordinate efforts, leverage those two projects at the same time, making sure that what we were doing was benefitting both projects in terms of savings and efficiency. Theres too many silos. We see fta, everybody has their sighly in politics. Its all adults fighting over adult systems. Im absolutely convinced that one of the reasons we were 300 million under budgity and why the 2015 project came in in december of 12. Those silos didnt see he eaeac other as competitors. Udot and uta worked together. And we brought those savings to the taxpayer. And so yes, we saw hundreds of millions of dollars of savings, we saw those projects brought online quicker. And it was essentially a collaborative effort. You have to break down those silos and see that doon in a collaborative way. And when you do that, right now, carlos, on our freeways on i15, you know the electronic signs, for cleaner air use transit. Tell me how many d. O. T. People are advertising mass transit on their interstates . How often is that happening . I dont think it happens that often, but in our state, thats where were trying to find that success. So mayor, i know youve put a lot of thought into what should be in a national plan. And youve been communicating some of that. As we look forward, what are those main components . Its fourfold, but ill collapse them into three. Its the infrastructure, incentive initiative. Ill be testifying on capitol hill about their tomorrow. Essentially, you need to first and foremost leverage each other. Federal government needs to leverage local government. Local government needs to lerge federal government. Thinking you are going to have a single dollar in that hat when you leave is over. But if you come with a hat thats filled, this has happened with a republican congress, democratic president. We have to start thinking about the life of projects. I was very sad to see here in
Washington Area<\/a> a fay salt on mass transit, a line got shut down, because all the money always goes in. We as politicians like building things, but theres not a lot of glory in maintaining things. But if we dont think about the life of projects, whether its here in washington or in boston. I remember when there was a smoking car in their system and someone had to kick the window out to save themselves or in the bay area where they were trying to get a maintenance. So you need a steady treatment of funding. What was fascinating about what we did with measure m, we did focus groups. What if it was a 10year tax . What if it was 20 . It was the reverse. They gutted it at a gut level. They said, its like our schools, you dont do a tenyear tax for your public schools. This is something we need and we need forever. We dont want our children or childrens children figuring out, okay, grandpa got it done well, but they left us nothing to maintain and continue building it out. So our measure m is a permanent tax increase. Third is p3. Its leverage of the private sector. Ive spelled out why thats so important and how creative that is. Since i opened up that office that i mentioned, weve got a couple different rail lines and one of the most expensive tunnels through the sepulveda pass. Thats where karcarmageddon occurred. We have people bringing their capital and ideas to get that done cheaper. And phil washington, the best in the business came from denver. I stole him. I got permission from mayor hancock to steal him. Because he had put into the ground everything he needed to do. The denver connector was a p3. And it got done 75 of the cost, seven years early. And the last piece is noef innovation. This is a revolutionary moment. From aerial, to ride share, to what eloanns doing. This is a moment where theres more innovation. But its being applied in other places. Dubai will have the first aerial drones. We look at the innovation happening, but because of our environmental laws. All sorts of reasons we send
American Technology<\/a> and build up that capacity in other parts of the world. So i think the federal government should put an award for innovation, put funding aside to invest in companies that are doing innovative transportation work and those, you know, three things of leverage, innovation, and p3s. Incentive. Infrastructure. Last question to you two, because what weve seen is youre very successful in building consensus in a red state, and perhaps what you might consider a blue city. Between the two of you, youve been able to do it on both sides of the political spectrum. If you had to make one recommendation to the federal government, what do they need to do to build consensus . Well, we said it before, republicans stop thinking you can do it all through leverage. Democrats, to the thinking can you do it all through grants, you need both. If you are going to be absolutist about this, this is going to go the way of the health care fight, going to their camps, trying to muscle it out and most people being upset. But this is an area where most of america is united, and you want to have that recapitalizing offshore assets, put it in an infrastructure bank. I love what secretary mnuchin is saying about that. Were doing it in a blue sticci. Republicans need the idea they can only do their is in the pri marketplace. Its not washingtons money. Let l. A. Take our own federal tax dollars back. If we want transit, lets do transit. But give us our money back and keep these columns of grants that are available for all of us, because zeroing those things out would set us back, and youre not going to get 1 trillion moving without them. Mr. Speaker . I think, i guess washington will always have its partisan side. It seems like thats all you ever hear, the talking heads every night. Theres so much overlap in multimodal transportation infrastructure. Wouldnt it be great, i know from elected officials to show your constituents that you can build trust and
Work Together<\/a>. And the perfect doesnt have to be the enemy of good and youre moving the needle. And if theres any space in politics where it can occur in its moist, ast, the lowhanging is the greatest and the impact to the communities would be the gradest is this very space here, and i think swrie to have that conversation to really get people to drop those silos that we tend to perpetuate. Its a win for everyone, and everyone can join in on that and saying we are doing right by the constituents we represent. I dont nknow any other
Public Policy<\/a> we have the potential. So we have to take advantage of that. Thank you very much. Id like this panel to go on for another three hours. This is per. Wh perfect. We can do it aross the country. A and at a
National Level<\/a> as well. So thank you all. [ applause ] id just like to say a few words in closing. What a perfect way to start off infrastructure week 2017. Im john hopkins, the u. S. Chambers chairman of the board this year. And it is an honor to be here. What id like to do to close out is say a few words as relates to thank yous, and also some of the salient points i heard. Obviously, weve heard from a great list of panelists and speakers. We also have ae and id like to thank the
Steering Committee<\/a> and sponsors for their hard work and support as well as a dedicated staff that works year round to make this a success. And finally, a big thank you in attending today. Youve heard a lot of comments and ideas. Hopefully youll take that out in this city and the nation and keep this course
Going Forward<\/a>. Id also like to, you know, this isnt just about infrastructure day. We have a full week here going ahead with full week with over 100 events around the country. And sometimes just to keep the conversation going. This isnt about infrastructure day or infrastructure week. Its about 2017. We just heard from glen from
Carlyle Group<\/a>. Its time to walk the talk. I mean, how many years have we been talking about infrastructure
Going Forward<\/a> and the needs for infrastructure in this country and yet now is the time to do it. Just in a recap of what ive heard here today. Of our economy. Update and upgrade will mean more efficient businesses, better economic it will also mean jobs in the short term and in the long term. We heard from labor today. We heard a gentleman talk about no and yeses of
Nuclear Power<\/a> plant in
South Carolina<\/a> that has 6,000 jobs. There is another one in georgia that is creating 6,000 jobs. Infrastructure is the ultimate investment we can make in the economy. That means all of us have to take a stake in this debate. Second, lets spread the word to modernization about innovation and new technology. We heard the secretary talking about
Innovative Technologies<\/a>, about creativity all being led by safe and being safer. And we heard that and that permeated this morning through most of the panelists. Its about building a smarter, safer and more efficient tomorrow. This is something im passionate about. I had a great career with a company in the
Engineering Construction<\/a> business. We were engaged in building the bay bridge and the
Tappan Zee Bridge<\/a> in new york and were involved in denver for the train system there. And when i left the company i was with i was in my mid50s. It was a few years ago. I got involved in a new technology and i had to get my head around it. And its about a small module nuclear reactor. Theyre small. The passion is looking at
Global Energy<\/a> requirements
Going Forward<\/a> and the
Energy Requirements<\/a> for desalinization. I had the minister from singapore come in and look at our product and noting in less than 32 acres i can provide enough subsidies and
Potable Water<\/a> in singapore for over 400,000 homes. We have a way to. Go i have 6 million invested in the product but its about commercial vieibilty and safety and
Energy Requirements<\/a>
Going Forward<\/a>. However, without doing that, in order to do that, we need to modernize our energy and infrastructure in this capacity just like its important our nation has the infrastructure to handle nextgeneration aircraft and the growing need for broad band access. We cannot rely the 20th century infrastructure to we also heard today that there is republicans, democrats and independents probably sitting in this room and thats how it should be done. All of us need to get together and get legislation passed. We cannot allow
Infrastructure Modernization<\/a> to die at the hands of political bickering not when every american stands to gain so much. Lets talk constructively to employees and neighbors about this. Lets organize, and advocate and make our voices heard to all of washington that we expect action. In closing id like to thank you again for joining us for infrastructure week kickoff. You can learn more about it, theres infrastructureweek. Org. That will talk about the remainder of the week and events going on. And we encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas through southerly media at timetobuild. And ladies and gentlemen its a good kickoff for the week and the reminder of the year. Thank you for coming and again appreciate it. [ applause ] tuesday in washington, a daylong conference foe us canning on national security, the economy and civic engagement. In the morning, nancy pelosi and
Senators Amy Klobuchar<\/a> and chris murphy are among the list of speakers. Hosted for center for
American Progress<\/a> it gets underway at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. The
Senate Finance<\/a>
Committee Takes<\/a> a look at ways to improve the quality of care for those living with
Chronic Health<\/a> conditions. Watch at 10 00 a. M. Eastern over on cspan. Saturday on book tv live all day coverage of the maryland book festival, starting at 10 00 a. M. Even, maria olson on her book, not the cleaver family. At 10 35 a. M. An insiders account of the politics of intelligence. Sharon wineburger discussing her book the untold story of darpa, the
Pentagon Agency<\/a> that changed the world. At 1 15 eastern,
Craig Shirley<\/a> on reagan rising, the decisive years 1976 to 1980. At 2 15 p. M. , the author of wrestling with his angels, the political life of abraham lincoln. And at 3 15,
Sally Mott Freeman<\/a> on the jersey brothers a missing naval officer in the pacific. Watch our all day coverage of the book festival starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan2s book tv. Next, another look at infrastructure priorities and the ability to finance various projects. This was hosted by the environmental and energy study institute. Its just under an hour 1 2","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600604.us.archive.org\/31\/items\/CSPAN3_20170516_033000_Chamber_of_Commerce_Forum_on_Infrastructure\/CSPAN3_20170516_033000_Chamber_of_Commerce_Forum_on_Infrastructure.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20170516_033000_Chamber_of_Commerce_Forum_on_Infrastructure_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240628T12:35:10+00:00"}