The last year has been undeniably challenging for communities across the United States, leaving families and businesses reeling from an unprecedented one-two punch of health and economic hardships. Add to that the recent widespread power and drinking water failures that affected millions of people in the midst of extreme winter weather, and it is clear why a transformative investment in infrastructure should be a top priority for members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, in the months ahead.
Not only will enacting an ambitious infrastructure plan help keep people safe from the type of dangerous systemic breakdowns we have seen across the country, it will also help rebuild, grow, and strengthen our country’s middle class for years to come. As more people get vaccinated and we plot a path to post-pandemic prosperity, investing in our nation’s critical infrastructure will create the incentives needed to get people back to work now, and it will equip our economy for long-term economic growth and dominance on the world stage.
While serving in Baton Rouge and in Washington, I was proud to champion conservative, pro-growth policies focused on middle-class priorities. That means getting the government out of the way by lowering taxes and reining in excessive regulation that holds hardworking people back while making wise investments to give our nation and its people the tools to succeed.
Few investments offer such clear benefits as an immediate injection of resources into our critical infrastructure. In fact, a study by Georgetown University estimated that a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure would create 11 million new jobs over 10 years.
Many of these jobs will be in fields such as construction, engineering, clean energy, and manufacturing — well-paying, skilled roles that will go to hardworking people who have struggled during the pandemic and whose ability to earn a middle-class living will be essential to the recovery.
And the benefits of fixing our nation’s crumbling infrastructure will flow to every person for decades through a growing economy that provides people with more and better opportunities to succeed, offers them safer and more resilient communities, and allows them to compete on a fair playing field with our global competitors.
The need is clear. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our infrastructure a grade of C-, with a growing number of our roads and bridges in disrepair, serious deficiencies in our aviation hubs, ports, and railways, a lack of broadband access leaving whole communities behind, and, as we have learned so painfully, the need for serious improvements to our obsolete electrical grid and drinking water systems. Poor infrastructure is already costing families thousands of dollars annually, and the costs will only grow if we don’t address our problems now.
The U.S. is at a crossroads. Our elected leaders in Washington have a historic opportunity to work in a bipartisan fashion to rebuild and modernize our nation desperately in need of repair and renewal.
Without coming together to make timely, strategic investments in our infrastructure, the success of our nation’s short-term recovery and long-term economic future are in question, and we can expect to experience more infrastructure failures in the years ahead. If Congress fails to act, the hardest-hit people will be those in middle-class families who get left behind.
Bobby Jindal served as the governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016 and was a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
