Washington - Business Roundtable President & CEO Joshua Bolten today issued this statement following Senate release of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:
“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act presents a significant opportunity to modernize our nation’s physical infrastructure and reach the full productive potential of the U.S. economy. This historic investment will yield benefits for the American people through time savings, reduced costs and a more dynamic economic and employment environment.
“This legislation also contains important policies to unlock private capital, encourage public-private partnerships, improve the permitting process and ensure our nation’s infrastructure is sustainable and resilient. And importantly, the bill contains provisions to make certain the benefits of infrastructure modernization reach rural and traditionally underserved communities across the country.
“We thank the Democratic and Republican Senators who have worked tirelessly together over these past weeks to turn the bipartisan infrastructure framework into a bipartisan bill. We urge the Senate and House to continue building on this strong bipartisan momentum by passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as soon as possible.”
According to a recent Business Roundtable study, each dollar of a $1 trillion infrastructure investment would yield nearly $4 in U.S. economic growth over 20 years. The study also found that an investment of this size and scope would increase the average American household’s disposable income by $1,800 every year for 20 years, create 1.2 million new jobs and boost wage growth.
Enactment of bipartisan infrastructure legislation is a top priority for Business Roundtable. Earlier this summer, the Roundtable launched a multimillion-dollar campaign to advocate for significant bipartisan infrastructure investment, featuring radio, print and digital ads in over 50 media markets across the country. Along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, AFL-CIO, the National Retail Federation, the Bipartisan Policy Center, North America’s Building Trades Unions and over 20 additional leading business and labor organizations, the Roundtable is also a founding member of the Coalition for Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment.