LaHood, Rendell urge Congress to include infrastructure in next stimulus bill

(Source: Progressive Railroading 05/06/2020)

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell earlier this week called on Congress to include transportation infrastructure investment in the next federal COVID-19 stimulus legislation.

On May 4, LaHood and Rendell — as co-chairs of Building America’s Future — wrote to congressional leaders to urge the creation of a federal capital budget as a way to fund infrastructure investments in the next COVID-19 response package.  

Congress and the Trump administration are considering a fifth legislative package to address the health, financial and economic wreckage caused by the pandemic.  

Creating a federal capital budget to fund infrastructure investments would help address some concerns being raised about the recently passed multi-trillion-dollar legislative packages’ impact on the national debt, LaHood and Rendell said in the letter. 

“Smart and strategic investments in infrastructure are what is needed to kick-start America’s economy,” wrote Rendell. “This is not without precedent: the best way to get the economy going is to … create a federal capital budget.”

A capital budget with borrowing spreads the cost of infrastructure projects over many years instead of calculating the costs up front, the letter stated.

“By investing in our nation’s future now and doing so in a fiscally responsible way through a capital budget will help to re-ignite America’s economy,” wrote LaHood, who served as transportation secretary during the Obama presidency.

To read the letter, click here.