No, seriously.
It’s hard to imagine right now, but eventually the initial stay-at-home, shelter-in-place part of the coronavirus crisis will end. When it does, Americans are going to emerge from their homes to find devastating economic damage.
The very real public health need to close restaurants, retail shops and movie theaters to “flatten the curve” meant millions of Americans were suddenly thrown out of work. We have no idea how many small businesses may never open their doors again.
In manufacturing specifically, many factories are limiting production or even switching offline to keep their workers safe. Others are pitching in to make needed medical supplies, but there’s a lot of uncertainty about what will happen after that.
The United States is almost certainly in a deep recession. The “D” word is even being used.
Congress already has passed a series of three rescue packages designed to help the economy weather the storm. Now there’s talk of a fourth, with lawmakers debating the best way to stabilize and boost the struggling economy.
You know what that means.
No, we're totally serious.
Before this crisis hit, #infrastructureweek had become a running joke. Both the White House and Congressional leadership love to talk about how they are all totally on board with getting a big infrastructure investment package passed, but then nothing happens.
The team behind the original Infrastructure Week advocacy effort even recently rebranded in an attempt to redirect the debate and remind people why this issue is important.
We get the comedy in all of this; we’ve even had a little fun with it ourselves. But the fact remains that America’s infrastructure is in awful shape. All of it needs work, from roads and bridges to public transit and airports to electric systems and water pipelines. All of it.
Now the United States finds itself facing an unforeseen, once-in-a-generation of economic crisis. Policymakers are going to need to do something big to boost the economy and get millions of people back to work.
Infrastructure is that big thing.
You know what happens every year during the actual Infrastructure Week? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO hold a joint event in which they come together to call on Congress to pass an infrastructure package. Business and labor in the same room, advocating for the same thing.
There’s that level of agreement that this is a good idea.
A robust infrastructure investment package would create millions of jobs and provide direct economic benefits across the country. Including Buy America provisions will ensure that American workers and companies do this work, reinvesting taxpayer dollars right back into our communities.
Not only would rebuilding infrastructure create millions of direct jobs, doing so would also lay the groundwork – quite literally – for an economic rebound. Better roads makes it easier to move supplies and products, after all.
This is no time for joking around. After the threat of the coronavirus itself is contained, Congress and the White House will need to do something bold to get the country moving again. Luckily for them, there's a big project waiting for them.