Building America's Future's letter to the White House regarding the Economic Recovery Bill

President-elect Barack Obama 
Presidential Transition Office 
451 6th Street, NW 
Washington, DC 20008 

Dear President-elect Obama: 

The draft economic recovery plan released by the House Appropriations Committee yesterday will do a great deal to strengthen our nation's economic future.  We know that this bold and beneficial plan is a result of your leadership and willingness to confront our problems head-on.  It also represents a promising down payment on the infrastructure investments our nation needs, and will help states and localities invest in infrastructure projects that will create jobs, promote energy independence, and enhance quality of life and safety for our citizens and communities.  But there are some key priorities that we believe should receive greater attention: 

Prioritize "Fix-it-first":  We enthusiastically support the plan's focus on a broad range of infrastructure investments, including transportation, water systems, school construction, public housing repair, building retrofits and the energy grid.  But we also believe we need a stronger focus on system preservation, especially for transportation, which has a very large backlog of maintenance projects. Our country can put Americans to work by bringing our current infrastructure into a state of good repair. 

Focus on Transit and Rail:  The House Appropriations bill would reduce transit and rail funding by 25 percent and Amtrak and intercity rail funding by 78 percent from what Chairman Oberstar previously proposed, including eliminating $2 billion in much needed assistance to transit systems which would enable those systems to hold off fare increases, preserve service levels, and retain existing jobs. 

Our nation should not miss this opportunity to make a substantial investment in transit and rail projects which will put people to work while helping to lower transportation costs for American families and businesses, reduce carbon emissions, and spur economic development across the U.S. 

Water and Sewer Systems:  We are pleased to see the inclusion of $2 billion for drinking water infrastructure, but we support Chairman Oberstar’s original proposal of $12 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.  Furthermore, unless both funds can provide grants, many financially strapped localities will not be able to use the programs.  Many localities across the country have had to impose double digit rate increases in recent years and simply cannot borrow more money that ratepayers will have to pay back.  And while we support the new grant-making authority under both programs, current regulations in many states will prohibit communities in need from qualifying for those grants.  Communities across the country face a large backlog of ready-to-go wastewater treatment projects and can get many of those projects underway immediately, but need access to grant funding in order to do so. 

Oversight, Transparency and Accountability:  We strongly support the bill's groundbreaking accountability and transparency provisions and the creation of a Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board.  These measures will help Congress, your Administration and the general public hold all of us who seek public support accountable for using the funds quickly and effectively. 

A recent national survey we commissioned shows that a near unanimous 94 percent of Americans are concerned about our nation's infrastructure, and 81 percent are willing to pay more in taxes to rebuild it.  But they expect strong oversight, accountability and transparency in how the funds are spent. But ultimately we will need an oversight system that will do more than track and report on spending.  We must also collect data and analyze what return on investment we are getting for our infrastructure dollars and set national goals for how we might better invest those funds in the future. 

A Long Term Commitment:  It is crucially important that this Administration, Congress and the American people understand that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is just a down payment on our nation's long term needs.  This economic recovery package will do much to jump start our economy and put Americans to work, but we will also need to continue to steadily address our nation's $1.6 trillion backlog of infrastructure needs.  For too long we have been living off the infrastructure built by previous generations of Americans. It is vital that we don't stop here but begin planning, almost immediately, a longterm infrastructure strategy that focuses on how we will meet funding goals and the best way to ensure that the spending decisions will be based on need not politics.  Opportunities like the formation of the Infrastructure Bank, which can leverage private capital and select projects on merit, and the creation of a federal capital budget need to be evaluated as soon as possible. 

We want to thank you again for providing real leadership on an issue that has been overlooked for too long - and for working with the new Congress to make infrastructure a core element of the stimulus package.  We know that you share our ambitious goals, and we look forward to working together to start the process of investment and reform that will build lasting, productive assets and provide economic dividends for generations to come.

Sincerely,                                                 

Michael R. Bloomberg                   Edward G. Rendell                  Arnold Schwarzenegger 

Mayor                                             Governor                                 Governor