On Infrastructure, ‘The Time to Act is Now’
May 18, 2018
“Cost of Inaction” panel pictured left to right: Moderator Chuck Todd, Brendan Bechtel, Jamie Dimon, Larry Willis, Rep. Rodney Davis, Sen. Tom Carper.
Business Roundtable yesterday hosted “The Cost of Inaction: A Conversation on U.S. Infrastructure” — an event bringing together a panel of leaders from business, labor and government to focus on America’s infrastructure needs. As Infrastructure Week 2018 comes to a close, here are highlights from this in-depth discussion on problems, potential solutions and bipartisan opportunities to modernize America’s infrastructure.
Brendan Bechtel, Chairman & CEO of Bechtel, on the urgency of modernizing America’s infrastructure.
Bechtel: “The time to act is now. This problem gets harder to solve and more expensive to solve with every day that goes by.”
Jamie Dimon, Chairman & CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co, on how to achieve competitive infrastructure.
Dimon: “We’ve got to fix the bureaucracy, the permitting, all the things that take place…. We should have a competitive tax structure, a competitive infrastructure — so help us God.”
Larry Willis, President of the Transportation Trades Department at AFL-CIO, on public transportation creating more jobs.
Willis: “We have jobs that are being created, but too often — especially in city centers — they don’t have access to… public transportation or a road network that works for them. We need to fix that if we’re going to grow our economy.”
Congressman Rodney Davis (R-IL) on reducing regulatory requirements for infrastructure projects.
Davis: “We got to do a better job at making sure that those regulatory requirements are reduced so that our projects can move forward.”
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Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) on bipartisan support for water infrastructure
Carper: “John Barrasso, Republican from Wyoming, and I have authored bipartisan legislation that focuses on the water side — ports, rivers, dams and so forth. We have bipartisan support. We have almost unanimous support.”
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