And one thing that will make it great.
Despite an absolute onslaught of huge news out of Washington in recent days, Infrastructure Week 2017 presses on. Labor, business, academia and average Americans are uniting to push for much-needed investment to rebuild our nation's roads, bridges, railways, airports, pipelines and more.
There's more momentum on infrastructure than ever before, but there are still a lot of things standing in the way. Over on Medium, AAM's own Scott Paul outlines five of them, along with a policy that makes infrastructure projects even more effective. Here's an excerpt:
Dismayed at any infrastructure plan’s prospects? Don’t lose all hope; despite the significant distractions, there are those on Capitol Hill who still want to see it happen. Should optimism prevail, I have one suggestion:
Make sure any and all infrastructure spending Buys American.
Buy American preferences — which give domestic manufacturers and workers the first shot at government procurement contracts — have covered federal highway and transit spending since the 1980s. They existed in the 2009 infrastructure bill, where they proved cost-effective. Senate Democrats took pains to include them in their own infrastructure proposal this year, and Trump — who still says “I wan to buy American and hire American” at his rallies — has signed executive orders expanding their reach.
Read the entire piece, and then tell President Trump and your Members of Congress to include Buy America in any infrastructure spending plan.