Profile of the nations infrastructure issues to recruit new c. E. O. s and toplevel voices to the cause, and to generate more interest among the Business Community for addressing the challenges we will discuss today and throughout the week. Little did i know a year later we would be here today with a week packed full of events and national and Regional Media campaign involving a Steering Committee that unified business, labor, and think tanks. Paul urassi is the president of hnt tv culls companies. Paul, thank you to your dedication to modernizing our roads, railways, rivers, runways, and waterpipes, and your ability to put the chamber and the Council Together for that all important first meeting. For that, we are here today. Paul, please accept my thanks and the Steering Committees gratitude for h. N. T. s generous sponsorship of the week. Please join me in welcoming paul urassi. 6 [applause] i have the honor today of introducing the first keynote speaker, donahue. A number of years ago the hntb to s courting join. We had a number of visits and were deciding what we were going to do. Finally, i dont know who it was, said why dont you go visit tom. So after 4545 minutes with tom donahue i saw exactly wr to be s great for hntb part of the chamber of commerce. I saw everything that fit what h. N. T. Needed. More than that, i saw a man with a vision for what america could be, the passion to get it done, and backed by an organization that was working to implement his ideas. Since becoming president , tom built the chamber into a powerhouse. During toms tenure the chamber, lobbyists, legal experts, and under toms erts leadership the chamber has emerged as a Major Political force. A force that needs to be reckonned with. I would like to kick off the week by introducing tom donahue. [applause] well, thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Im pleased to be here. Im not sure how i feel. I got back from europe late yesterday. Im ready willing and able because im absolutely committed to the subject that were going to discuss today and this evening and tomorrow and the next day, and that were going to advance in every way we can to meet the challenges that we ll face. Thank you for your support of whats going on in the infrastructure world. I would like to join janet in welcoming our cohost, and the organization for international investment, n. A. M. , and the ouncil on competitiveness. I appreciate working together with these folks. The Highway Trust Fund is going to run short of money. Guaranteedwont be to get reinforced on time for money they have already spent and we will probably slow down their own commitments. Beat tober, projects will interrupted, halted, or never launched in the first place because of the uncertainty over funding. This will weaken an already weak recovery. I am talking about the economic recovery that will contribute to the slow deterioration of our and undermine our Global Competitiveness and demonstrate to the world that america cannot even get the basic things done anymore. Will also cost us a lot of jobs. While we are trying to create jobs, this will be taking the most important types of jobs away. Several members of Congress Acting with plans that would address our longterm funding issues and we applaud them for their efforts and another is going to be more discussion in town this week on those attempts. Others are suggesting that the political reality is that it will have to settle for an infusion of cash into the Highway Trust Fund as a stopgap measure. Where are you going to get the cash . It used to be there were ways to do it and i think is tighter now than it was. It may be true that weekend yet an infusion but it is hardly the heart a longterm solution we need if we want to maintain a worldclass infrastructure system. This is like the movie groundhog day. Every few years we wake up and have the same conversation about over the gassame i tax and the same scramble for money. The only problem in recent years, we have not been doing really well. You do know and i think round numbers in 20 years, since we increase the gas tax. Dont get me wrong. Money is important. You cannot make that if you do not have the cash. That that is all that we have to do to get the infrastructure issues working. If you look at everything that is being discussed in recent days and weeks around the environmental issues, any of somewhat in conflict, not because they are wrong but in what we are trying to do and where we are trying to spend our money. What everyone would agree to is that we need a comprehensive, forwardlooking program that nate meets the needs of the competitive 21stcentury and then embraces innovative approaches and instills honda benson earns support of the jaded citizenry. Whoever built that bridge did not help us, it didnt go anywhere, that we certainly heard a lot about it. Today i would like to suggest a plan that might meet that objective, a plan that can get us past the stale and repetitive debates we have engaged in for too long, a plan that will appeal to the American People and our elected officials because it focuses on the benefits of a 21stcentury infrastructure system, a plan that will emphasize transparency, accountability, technology, and innovation. It is a plan that relates to the lives of Everyday Americans and will help drive their enthusiasm for an increased Public Investment in infrastructure, a plan gold on five pillars. Most plans are built on five something. We decided pillars. The first pillar is enhanced transparency and accountability. But in english, lets get the American People to be confident about what we are doing. Americans will never buy into a longterm funding plan until they are confident that their hard earned dollars are going to be spent wisely. For decades they have been fed stories of wasteful or barrel nowhere, bridges to and bringing home the proverbial bacon to win votes. Are bad. F those things i told janet today, understand why we took away all of the efforts to build home to bring home a deal over a bridge, but maybe if we all got together and would make a professional list had to be done and after everything was done that and funded in permitted, then they could let the legislative committees and in order of seniority or hood looks, they could hit one of those projects and we would let them say it is bearish. But the bottom line is, we have got to get people to trust what we are going to do. Theres got to be a change. We need more transparency and accountability throughout the system especially to explain to people how objects are implemented and paid for. The public has a right to expect more business minded financial participation in infrastructure projects. All new construction and major upgrades should be the subject of a rigorous Economic Analysis that indicates a strong return on investment or a return of need that the Community Must take care of. The public has a right to expect once selected projects are subject to a strict management and are done in a timely fashion in a costeffective way. Often we put so much bureaucracy between the beginning and the conclusion we all forget what we started out to do in the first place. The public has a right to expect that Congress Keeps the promise and does not diverge the money to some other project. Implementing these reforms will not only improve the efficiency of our system, deliver Better Benefits and keep the costs lower, they will instill the confidence we need to do this on a longterm basis. The second pillar is that streamlining of the regulatory system. The public needs to know once they commit the money, it will be put to work quickly and efficiently for jobs, growth, and opportunity. Lawsuits lawsuits are fine, not ones that go on for months and years and years. Permitting delays and bureaucracy can not only slow projects, raise their costs, and outright kill them, but they cant discourage privatesector investment and prevent implementation of cost savings innovations. Permitting is a good example. A federal permit is almost always necessary to build or upgrade transmission lines, Nuclear Power plants, ports, airports, chemical facilities, and any other number of projects. The problem is after the permit is filed no one is in charge. Theres no one timeline for approval, and parties have up to six years to sue after an agency makes his final decision. Give me a break. So from the outset we have we are all looking at more of than decade have been just to break ground, as well as long delays and costs from legal challenges. We have seen exceptions and seen them work. Remember back to the horrific earthquake in San Francisco, and what we did there was we got together like this country can and made it work. What we have now . We have the rapid act, working its way through congress. We put someone in charge of the permit and ensuring coordination among agencies and put limits on reviews and legal challenges. It will speed up the development of projects so we can create jobs and growth. Efforts to streamline the regulatory process had been part of each of the last three Major Service transportation acts. Some progress has been made, but change has been slow. Additional efforts like streamlining that permit system are needed. The third pillar is a more strategic multimodal approach. We need a seamless national connected system that links all the physical assets and all the transportation modes together. We need intermodal connectors that link railroads to ports, ports the highways, high waist airports, and so on and so forth him a touch of which can be done by the private sector if the Public Sector is involved in the way it should in a timely basis. This is where many of the greatest bottlenecks in freight transportation occur, on the last mile that connects one mode to another. Our transportation and infrastructure Planning System operates in silos across this nation and around this town. Multiple levels of government and multiple industries that compete with one another. This lack of coordination raises costs and generates inefficiencies, which means the system remains fragmented and disjointed. If we are to maintain our worldclass infrastructure system, we need to break down those silos, talk to one another, and consider the big which are. In short, we need a network, not a patchwork. States have an Important Role to play, but we can all agree that the federal government must take a leading role in making sure that the infrastructure system introduced to a strong economy, National Security, and works in a seamless way. Devolving responsibilities to the states as some has suggested means we will Lose National connectivity that is essential to moving american goods, Economic Growth, and Global Competitiveness. That is a big price to pay. We sure states are actively involved in raising their own money and aggressively going ahead and fixing their own infrastructure, but they know we need a national system. The fourth pillar is integrating technology into the surface transportation system. Our lives revolve around gadgets these days, it seems to be. We expect that information at our fingertips to make decisions on the fly, to adapt to changing situations, and the American People are going to expect that relationships with the infrastructure is no different. It is time to make sure that our concrete, asphalt, steel, air Traffic Control system, and other infrastructure are smart. They will tell us when they are wearing out and then we can worry about it. This is what americans do. We innovate, create them in caps on the rocks, make the absolute most out of the resources we have. There are some exceptions. One might look at the u. S. Infrastructure system. The private sector knowhow is already alleviating injection, congestion, helping travelers plan ahead, unlocking good luck at airports, and improving safety. And if using more technology and infrastructure planning construction and maintenance has a potential to be a game changer for the infrastructure system in the 21st century. Technology implemented across transportation modes and industries is uneven across governments and often much lower than the pace of technological evolution. The majority of the build system does not yet incorporate these elements. It might not be Cost Effective to add every new bell and whistle to the every structure, but business should decide on which technologies warrant support, where, how, and who pays for them. Ive been talking about all that because i have been trying to warm up to the fifth pillar, because this is what is about. The fifth pillar is our Business Plan, is creating a predictable, stable, and growing funding mechanism for infrastructure. Here is some old news free. The simplest, most straightforward way to fix the Highway Trust Fund and buy some time to develop a new funding system is to raise the federal gasoline tax, or the user fee. You do not want a user, you do not have to pay for. But if you want to use it, you have to pay for it. Truckers are for it, the Construction Industry is for it, labor is for it, and the chamber is fort. That is one hell of a start. If congress were serious about ensuring money goes to the most essential projects, most motorists would be for it, too. A researcher found out that 58 of the public would support a gas tax increase if they knew it would be applied to building and maintaining roads, bridges, and transit systems. Pretty good. He have watched in six states, three of each flavor, that state taxes he raised with the support of the citizens. Voters want to know where the money is going, and that it is going to be used well and not wasted. That is how you get the votes. Increasing, the gas tax is going to require some coverage which seems in short supply in washington these days. Last and as i said when those six states did it, they thought the current was there. They thought the current was there. Courage was there. Now we have got to get it here in the capital city. This guy did not fall. Their economies did not collapse. Both republican and democratic president s have approved modest gas tax increases, and even Ronald Reagan had a message on telling the people on the house side. Increasing the gas tax is the right answer. It is the one thing we can do in the short order. Weve got to do the same thing for our inland waterways. The barge guys support raising the barge diesel tax so that the locks and dams and levees can be replaced and upgraded. If we are going to export American Energy and agriculture, which we are doing more and more, we have got to take care of that, as well as stop holding back the money already collected for the Harbor Maintenance to trust fund. Lets keep in mind that public money is only part of the equation. We must increase private investment as well. The private sector is prepared to pump 250 billion in Publicprivate Partnerships if only certain barriers would be removed and if we could demonstrate we knew how to pay back what we acquired. Although 33 states have passed legislation allowing p3s, only a handful have taken advantage of it, and only a handful have established offices that can facilitate projects and help navigate legal, financial, and technical complexities. Governors and mayors need to embrace p3s as a way of doing business. We need to seize every opportunity to tap every possible source of capital so that that difficult projects and get done and done quickly. This also includes expanding things like tifia private activity bonds and state infrastructure. I listen to that stuff up on the hill all the time and you can do it and it will work, but you cannot do it until you lay the foundation touches a Highway Trust Fund. Today best estimates put the total u. S. Spending on p3s at nine percent of the global total, by taking some common sense steps we can drive that number up. Let me conclude because you have been patient listening to me. It is clear that the United States need a new path forward on transportation infrastructure. It is time we all push very hard to create a contemporary and innovative infrastructure strategy, one that embraces the private sector and its resources and invites the introduction of desperately needed ideas and drives prosperity rather than holding it back. Jobs, opportunity, and growth we need them all. A successful plan would prove to the American People that our elected officials that Infrastructure Investment is a smart bet for our people, our companies, and our economy. Congress and the Obama Administration have their role to play. They need to own up to the responsibility of implementing a smart, forwardlooking, transparent, and accountable Infrastructure Program with the necessary funding, please underline. The private sector has a role to play in a significant way as well. We need to come up with solutions, we need to craft a plan, and we need to sell it far and wide. Today i am pleased to announce that the incoming chairman of the board will help us lead a National Roundtable dialogue which will take place in five or six cities on each of the five pillars we discussed today. It might be more cities and five pillars. We will then transmit a report to the president , the congress, and everyone else that will listen with their principles and recommendations. Some have accused me of being an optimist. I cannot help myself. I am irish for the most part. Some people think well [laughter] so i say it is time to start viewing this issue as an opportunity, not only as a challenge. If we are smart, we can set a path that will ensure Adequate Funding for years to come. We can create jobs and we really need them. We can spur Economic Growth the country needs. We can promote Cooperation Among all levels of government and private sector. We can ensure that money is spent wisely on projects with the greatest national and if it. And we can build trust and confidence in the American People and make clear all of the benefits this investment will bring. The chamber is committed. My colleagues supporting this effort are committed, and we look forward to working with you to get it done. By the way, if you go to every event this week and then just go home and do not do anything, nothing is going to happen. So somebody, all of us have gotten go up and explain it to our representatives that we are so glad to have them and we need the money. Or we might not keep them. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, tom. This is Straight Talk about our transportation problems which is one of the reasons i like to work at the chamber. Please do not be shy. There is a whole other side of the room here. I was unable to construct a new entrance this morning, so youve got to help me out and walk all the way over there. We wanted to start today hearing from tom, but also hearing from leaders of real topnotch business organizations, each with a slightly different mission and approach, but all of which emphasize the concept of competitiveness, which the World Economic forum defined as the set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine a level of productivity of a country, which sounds very serious. That is a pretty big set of policies education, trade, tax policy, immigration, foreign policy. I could keep going on if it takes them longer to mike them up. What each of these Association Ceos want is the best platform upon which businesses can succeed and the United States can compete him and to help us big into how infrastructure relates to competitiveness, today we are pleased to welcome cnbcs eamon javers. Did i say that right . Yes. He has worked at businessweek and politico, appeared as an analyst on all the major broadcast networks, and if you watch washington week, youll will often see him on the panel. He is the author of a book you might want to pick up. So i will turn things over to you. Thank you, and thank you to our panel. Thank you very much, and thank you very much for the plug for the book. This is a fascinating time to have this conversation. I want to introduce the panel. We will have plenty of time for questions. I hope that your questions will be more insightful than mine. I want to get to that as quickly as we can. Starting here, you all know tom. Thank you for being here. We also have jay timmons, deborah wincesmith, nancy mclernon. Thank you all for being here. Let me start out with a statistic that i read last week that i thought was fascinating. So much of this conversation focuses on big businesses and what their needs are. That is important, but this is also a conversation about american jobs and the overall economy. The s p did a study by their chief economist last week and said that there estimates show that investing 1. 3 billion in infrastructure creates 20,000 u. S. Jobs and adds 2 billion to real gdp with potentially larger gains over the long term. If we could, starting with jay, give us your thoughts on what infrastructure needs for jobs first and then the broader economy. Thanks, and it is great to be here with such a Diverse Group of people. It is great to have tom kick this off as usual. Tom gave us some good things to think about and has really presented a challenge as we all know it here. The fact that we are so diverse and that the sponsors are so diverse, is a testament to the fact that we can get something done here. Eamon, it is about jobs and manufacturers. It is about competitiveness. If you look at our competitors around the world and what they are doing good infrastructure, you realize they are not stuck in the 20th century. They are moving forward to the 21st and planning for the 22nd century. That means if we are going to keep up with our competitors we have got to do the same thing here. For manufacturers, it matters in every step of the process, whether it is receiving input for our goods or being able to deliver our products to our customers here in the United States or to customers abroad. You mentioned the statistic for every 1. 3 billion invested in Infrastructure Spending it creates 22,000 jobs. That is a pretty basic figure, and that is borne out. For manufacturers, for every dollar invested in Infrastructure Spending, results in about 40 cents for manufacturers. When we look at all the Different Research products that have been done, studies that have been done, everybody agrees, weve got to do something. I brought with me a little hint here of the studies that have been done in the last five years. This is just five years worth have you read all those . She has. This is just a sample, not everything that is come out, but a lot of this is from the federal government, states, think tanks and our group here, and the conclusion is all the same. We have a problem and we have got to do something about it. We have partnered with building americas future, one of the sponsors today, and we surveyed manufacturers. John mclaughlin and another will give you more information on this poll. 70 of manufacturers, the people that his country relies on to generate the lifeblood of the economy, 70 of manufacturers think our infrastructure is in poor or fair shape. 2 3 of manufacturers believe that every single possible funding solution needs to be put on the table for discussion. It does not mean that we are all going to like what the outcome of every one of those potential solutions, but at least we should be talking about it. And we do need a multiyear longterm strategy for transportation so that we are protecting americas mantle of economic leadership. This is about jobs, but also politics. I wonder if the politics of this infrastructure conversation have been damaged from your perspective by the obama stimulus, the question of whether or not Government Spending can create jobs, having become so controversial . Does that make your job going out and selling Infrastructure Investment the congress harder . Well, we have not increased the federal fuel tax in 20 years. And the president has been in town for five and change. So we still had a 15year head start of not doing what we should have done. I do think that you could say because of the crisis we had economically, because and the chamber supported the program he put in we disagree with a lot of the stuff in it, but america had to do something. The world was watching but what we have been saying the whole time, and we have the big sign on our building about jobs, by the way, 20 some thousand jobs worth 1 billionplus, but i do not think the named names here. Here is a chance to put people to work, save lives, because a lot of kills a lot of people, and to our National Security and which is why the roads were built in the first place, and run funds into state and federal coffers by people and institutions that are doing this work. And i think it is time to say, ok, enough is enough for my now do it. There may be and we get ready to run out of money halfway through this year it will be a little easier to get their attention. Deborah, in your streets do you think people are more willing to hear that argument this year than in past years . What is the receptiveness . Theyre willing to hear the argument, but if you put into the broader context of u. S. Global exports and leadership as well as jobs and economy, we could clearly make the case very easily, we have the data, and think group that has tinkered together and i am proud to be with them, has documented our work, not only do we have a federal deficit, we have an infrastructure deficit. The amount we are under investing compared to our peers and competitors is staggering, and we are seeing the impact on that on the competitiveness of our firms. We need to relate this to what we would call at the u. S. Council on competitiveness and innovation deficit, because so much of the opportunity and the costs and what we are going to do to really take america into this 21st century infrastructure journey is an innovation journey. When you think of the new material some of the i. T. Systems, the sensors, the whole all the things that will enable our firms to be the leaders in the 21st century manufacturing just think of the infrastructure opportunities now that relate to the energy transformation. And the discussion right now about the Keystone Pipeline and all that going on, you think of the old pipes in the ground, but get this one, hopefully it will get approved, is going to be the stateoftheart. No country in the world will have that. Then the highskilled jobs. I would like to put on the table that the competitiveness agenda for this country is about talent, technology, investment, and infrastructure, but all of that takes us to an innovation economy where we are going to have highskilled jobs him and this whole infrastructure rebuilding and what it means for america really is freeing all those things together. In many ways, the infrastructure challenge becomes the Systems Integrator for all the things we need to do as a nation, and he clearly needs to be bipartisan and it needs to have a bookprivate art ships. And i want to call out our friend and colleague of all of us at the table, paul, because a lot of his leadership has gotten us here to this infrastructure week. It is a tremendous opportunity for americas future. Nancy, talk a little bit about the perspective of those companies that are coming here to the United States, looking to do some of this work. What are they looking to do and what are the challenges that your group faces . Thanks so much, and thank you all for having us on this panel. A distinguished group here. It is very diverse, but it is good to be here to talk about a topic that so many of us agree on, and my companys somewhat different perspective than those weve talked about today. They are not homegrown companies. They have made a deliberate decision to come to the u. S. , invest here, insource jobs to the u. S. It is a good thing for our economy. We did a study that said in sourcing companies over a decade period raise their industry average in almost every relevant economic indicator. They increased gdp by 25 . They pay a 22 premium in terms of wages and compensation to their u. S. Workers, over 5. 6 million americans. They invest heavily in u. S. R d, buy locally, and they produce here not only to serve u. S. Customers, but to serve the world as well. They produce about 20 of u. S. Exports. Infrastructure is very important. These companies are very diverse. I represent sony, siemens, basf, nestle, so they are very diverse. But the cfos of our companies in a recent survey said quality of infrastructure is one of the top factors in choosing a location for investment. It is not a coincidence that the quality of the u. S. Infrastructure has declined so has our share of crossborder investment. In 2000, the u. S. Won 37 of all crossborder investment. In 2012, it is 17 . Countries are improving their infrastructure. Where are those Companies Going . Who are our biggest competitors as a nation in terms of the infrastructure and resources . What are the other options if youre a big Global Company saying the United States crumbling, im going to go to x or y . I would jump in and say china is making huge investments. I have a long way to go. We did a study at the council with deloitte looking at what global ceos around the world think about manufacturing competitiveness. In terms of infrastructure, the u. S. Was ranked number 19 in that. The good news for us in that overall study was talentdriven innovation and a lot of the intellectual assets are in huge places with customers and markets. Start start they are having huge problems right now with the world cup. Brazil has a very sophisticated strategy with their Brazilian InternationalEconomic Development bank. It is being leveraged for infrastructure. Obviously, i will let my colleagues speak. Clearly, the emerging markets in asia, but also recently in the middle east, another part of the world that is ensuring that they will have a state of the art infrastructure, whether it is reports or goods. A lot of us have been to singapore and we see how these city states are also becoming magnets for a lot of the production, not necessarily the innovation work. And deborah mentioned the p3s. My companies headquartered abroad are familiar with Publicprivate Partnerships. England went there about three decades ago. Deborah mentioned brazil and chile. China. Oh, china. I am also mentioning chile, who have built a really good private sector with public involvement. The u. S. Is not set up as well to accept some of that investment. It is interesting. I am going to bring this up because i am an enormous nerd. You watch a company like elon musks tesla. Elon musk came out with the idea for the hyperloop, an entirely new type of transportation infrastructure that would lower the time between San Francisco to l. A. To about 30 minutes. What was fascinating to me is how people said that will never work, you cannot do that in this country, we cannot build anything this big. The politics would be too complicated. The reaction to that idea, whether you think it is crazy or not, was fascinating to me. There seems to be this attitude in the United States that we cannot do the big, new things. And this is the country that invented the big, new thing. As you look at all of this Infrastructure Investment, to what extent has the United States lost its ability to do those really large, important things . Well, if you went out in the street and asked the American People who is the biggest manufacturer in the world, oh, china. Really . No, we are. Who is the most efficient manufacturer in the world with a few specific exceptions . We are. Where are people coming to do more manufacturing . Us. There are all sorts of big, new things going on all the time. We have been fracking for 69 years. The ability to do horizontal fracking and all of that kind of stuff has made the cost of energy in the United States compared to europe which, by the way, is critical to the United States. Europe is our largest import market. Look at what we have done to drive the energy here down to a quarter of what it is. Look at what we have done by the way, there is one bad thing. We have taken 45 of the jobs out of the manufacturing business. Did we get rid of supply chain management, now we are a country with people without jobs and we have jobs without people because we need really skilled folks to do this. We are a sophisticated we are the most reductive economy in the world. The most productive economy in the ruler world. A lot of our big ideas are going on right under our nose. But i do absolutely agree that people look at the United States and wonder now, can we do it or will we do it . That is a fundamental issue and that problem is not all about government or people around the world. It is all about our own citizens, who have gotten comfortable, do not like conflict. Do not like risk. Do not like to work too hard. I think we need to stop and think with our children and our grandchildren, what are their futures . Talk about the energy side of this. I read a rarities of good news that the United States could become one of if not the leading oil producer in the world in the coming decades. That is a conversation that i cannot imagine us having 20 years ago. It was very doom and gloom about energy in this country. Now the Energy Picture is changing. How does that change the infrastructure piece and what you are going to do . Five years ago, we would be hardpressed to find that cover station, that the United States could become the world leader when it comes to energy production. That to your previous question. What we have been able to accomplish is an example of those big ideas that the private sector has been producing in this country. I happen to believe that there is no limit to what americans are willing to try to achieve. I want to add one little note. I think it does factor into our ability to maintain this edge or this leadership position on energy production. It is the government role. When we look at complacency and conventional wisdom that americas best days are i should not say conventional wisdom, but some would say that americas best days are behind us. That is ridiculous. One of the reasons that that is ridiculous is because, at some point, the American People are going to rebel against the government that is taxing too much, regulating too much, that is saying that we cannot do things that we could not do in the past. I think energy is a perfect example of that. So what we have been able to achieve on the energy front will allow us to maintain our economic leadership. But it is in doubt as well. You are starting to see new rules coming out on fracking or an effort to centralize the rulemaking process. The states are doing a great job when it comes to maintaining Public Safety and health and ensuring that fracking is done in a responsible manner. We have politics at play when it comes to permitting lng exports. We have got to move past that. I think several people have indicated that this is not just a problem that has occurred, this competitiveness issue is not something that happened in the last five years. For manufacturers, we have been regulated to death over the last 30 years. That has been in administrations republican and democrat. That is why every one of us up here are talking about Regulatory Reform, competitiveness. And the importance of Regulatory Reform when it comes to ensuring a 21stcentury Infrastructure Program. Energy is definitely a key. It can lead the way and show us the path forward to breaking through these political barriers in washington. I would jump in on that and say that we should be also thinking, and we do, of our regulatory capital cost system as an infrastructure. Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves to be competing globally with other competitors who do not want to compete on that. They want to compete on the higher value products and services they provide. We are being toppled by that. An example, we are talking about the energy and the potential of being energy weak and, for the first time, being energy strong, which has huge geopolitical security implications. Obviously, what is happening in russia and other parts of the world. For every study that has ever been done, says that our Product Liability laws are a huge, hostile set of behaviors for innovation. And talk about where a lot of the next generation asks us where we put we have known examples of companies who will not be put here because of our product. One thing i wanted to say in referencing the fracking and all of that, this gets back to the Publicprivate Partnerships and the appropriate role for the government. The Actual Research and development that enabled horizontal drilling and fracking really started 30 years ago. With investments in the department of energy. The exciting thing about that is if we look at the next iteration of that, there is work underway in our National Laboratories to develop new processes to move into this fracking area, not having to use as much water, not having to use chemicals that give concern to the environmentalists. Also, related to energy and manufacturing, to begin to develop synthetic rare earth materials, which will have huge implications for everything we are talking about here, manufacturing, competitiveness, the whole industry. I want everyone to start thinking of questions because i know your questions are going to be better than mine. We will go to some q a as well. One last point about energy. In the cfo survey we did of over 100 cfos of foreignbased companies in the United States, energy ranked as one of the most positive reasons that these companies are investing here, manufacturing here, using the u. S. As an export platform. What was interesting, if we did some cross tags and looked at the Energy Companies themselves, they are the most pessimistic because they are worried about regulation. They are worried about standardization and rules coming down the road that might interrupt their Business Plan that they know that they can be successful. So energy is one of our top competitive advantages. The Energy Companies themselves within my membership are concerned about the future. Tom, you had a point too. I think it is absolutely appropriate to get around to energy, but i want to make one point about energy. There is only one absolutely predictable major crisis facing the United States that we all know is there and nobody wants to talk about. It is the ugly elephant in the room and everybody turns their back to pretend it is not there. 10 years from now, we will be in a situation where the federal government will have grown its budget from 3. 8 trillion to 6 trillion. 66 for entitlements. 15 for interest on the debt. When we get finished, like 22 or the military and Everything Else that our government does at home and abroad. Including infrastructure. Everything has got to be in that. Basically, the number gets huge and most of the money goes to two things. That is entitlements, medicare, medicaid, social security, military entitlements and so on. We were Walking Around for a long time and the reason we would not look at the elephant is we did not know what to do. People living longer and longer. By the way, i like that. [laughter] People Living longer and longer and the costs are getting greater and greater. What are we going to do . We found some things that we can do to help. 10 years from now, we will, if we do it right, if we do not let people stick their heads in the sand and pretend it is not something we have to deal with, we will develop the American Energy system to the point where we can take a big bite out of that entitlement deal. And if we do not, we are really in trouble. I have to jump in and say that if you look at two sectors of our economy that do not have productivity, they are the Education System and the healthcare system. That tells you something right there. That we are not having systems that have productivity growth and all of that as well. The solution to the entitlements, you can look around the world. A country like israel, very innovative in what they are doing. They decided they were going to increase the age before people could get their social security. We are already doing that. But we are still working on 1930 models of actuary tables, for the most part. That could immediately have a huge impact if we could get bipartisan agreement to increase that. I want to ask you all about congress, bipartisan agreements, and what this particular congress is capable of. I also want to make sure that we have a chance for people to ask westerns. I know we have some folks roaming the halls with microphones. I cannot see all of the folks over there, so if anybody is raising their hand, let me know if there are questions in the back. I do want to get everybody involved here as well. Talk a little bit about this congress. Everyone seems to be completely pessimistic about it. It is the ability to do anything, even the mustpass bills, because of the gridlock on capitol hill. Listening to you all, or you get the sense that this is a pressing problem, has to be dealt with, crucial for the future of the u. S. Economy . What faith do you have that congress can rise to the occasion and do something this year even the gridlock and the political mess that we have seen and given the fact that there is an election coming up . I will put you on the hot seat. No problem. The perfect issue for the election coming up, because the public supports modernizing our infrastructure. I am an optimist. I know a lot of people are betting against Congress Taking any action this year. But the timing of the highway bill running out for right now, these are great issues that i think the public can get behind with strong leadership. What is your sense of this congress . Is this a congress that can do stuff or is this a congress that will want to get home and campaign and stay in the trenches . On that particular point, i am not as optimistic that they are going to do anything big. I think they will do some incremental things around the margin. I do think that we have a huge opportunity to be setting the stage for the next election. And to make the case that, ultimately, and tom alluded to this and i think jay did as well, we are talking about fundamental Security Issues as well. You talk about Homeland Security challenge. Something happen, we know this, our transportation, our water. If we do not have water, we are going to have a week before people start dying without water. Also presenting this is much more core to National Security is very critical. I am not as optimistic. My colleagues are. Are you still optimistic . I am optimistic. If you look at eight period of time from now until the elections, there are some things we have to do or are getting set to do. Everybody talks about lameduck deals. Every now and then, every three decades or something, we will have one that does a lot of stuff. But i really believe that there are three or four things that we will have a shot before they are finished. One is we will get a tax deal done. Taking those away would be another huge tax increase on american industry, which would affect jobs. I do believe that we are absolutely crazy if we do not take advantage of having passed an immigration bill out of the senate. Going back to do it again might be harder. And do something rational in the house and put it together. Lets get the three or four things we really need there. And we have a lot of heat on that. And we are going to put a lot more. You think immigration is doable this year . Yes. Really . Yes. You are more optimistic than i am. Lex i will give you three reasons. If the republicans do not do it, they should not bother to run a candidate in 2016. I mean, think about that. Think about who the voters are. I just did that to get everybodys attention. Everybody should immediately tweak that, tweet that, by the way. I want that to get out there. We are a nation without jobs and jobs without people. We are a nation with people out jobs. We need all of these people that thee training in universities. The best universities in the world. We tell them to go home . When you do that you send the where the people are. And the third reason we really haveto do this, and ill another sort of fun thing, the workers, people that are seasonable workers, in aboutlture, you talked healthcare, i will tell you in my business, i know something about. Did a big thing last week together. In nursing people homes, Retirement Homes and all of that, ive been giving a lot you donts saying want to do this immigration thing, youre going to go to the nursing home and pick up your and bring her home. Right. Dont have au labor force thats out there working. Exactly right. Thoseerating entitlements, you dont have the ability to take care of the older people. Minute,u sit down for a put a chalk board up and say, are, five, six things that really a challenge immigration, all of these talked about entitlements. We have energy. Infrastructure. You do four, five of those things and put them together and people will say, you know, we can do that. To we have to do is decide do it. If you look at whats going on in the primaries, where people focused onting trying to elect people of both toties that are going to go washington and get something done. Stand . Where do you for those in the audience who think tom just committed news [laughter] this is a unified position of the Business Community. Here to talk about infrastructure, but i do think that Immigration Reform does give you an idea of what can be accomplished. I, too, think it will get done this year. Think, actually, maybe a little differently than tom, i think it will happen in the lame the final piece of legislation. Maybe i think that, too, but im going to ok. [laughter] what you think and what you say no. That would be the fallback. For manufacturers, Immigration Reform like infrastructure and other issues is an imperative. Tom mentioned the workforce issue that were all experiencing. There are 600,000 jobs in goingcturing that are unfilled today. 600,000. This immigration bill can go a us fill toward helping those positions. But more importantly than that, a path way to citizenship is essential to manufacturers because we work very hard to build communities. Our present law to its current to its natural rippingon, we would be apart communities. Wed be rip ago part the fabric of this nation. Committedturers are to that. Were also committed this year to getting other things done was the extenders that mentioned, but also we need to see some Movement Forward on trade. Trade promotion authority, every president since Franklin Roosevelt has had is absolutely essential to our economic footprint in the world. Get to infrastructure and you issue. Very different and the issue is, this thing in july or august, even before the september expiration of the current bill. Allen to work for george in virginia. That governor was pretty effective when it came to talking to members of congress how infrastructure funding was impacting our ability in a state to do our jobs. When there are 50 governors, both republican and democrat, pounding on the doors of congress and when the American People are saying, look, you can hold up our statesability to fix roads, to build new roads to provide easier ways for us to get to work and back and, by the we really do care because we work for a living, we really the goodsout getting that were producing to our customers, the American People are going to send a very strong message. And i never doubt the ability of governors to force congress to get things done. That. Bsolutely agree with let me open it up to questions. I know weve got a lot of people want to jump in. Why dont we start on my left and go to the right and then around. K right here in the middle. Go ahead. Us your namegive and organization as well. Consultant. Ey, cul to what extent can you use the internet to try to get people an economic get consensus and get the money together and get these things done . Interesting question. Can you use the internet i also throw into that social terms of mobilizing Political Support for what it is that you want to do. Give you an added tool and how do use that . Why dont we start with nancy down. Rk our way social media is without a tool. A very powerful i think that you can absolutely whatsp weve seen happened around the world build up some nice Political Support for that. But we also need political that are willing to take some risks. The aability to i ofsed the issue Publicprivate Partnerships earlier because its something are foreignbased companies very used to doing. Getting more acceptance of that well. H social media as often times politically the fact that a Foreign Company is going to lease the toll road and operate the toll road is used as defeat the project itself. You know, a Spanish Company is going to come in and do it. Sure where that Spanish Company will take the road. But in virginia theyre not going to move it home. Right . No. But weve seen the success of that before. During theiring commute on the hot lanes can thank an Australian Company for with the commonwealth of virginia to do so. Social media is a way to get people to understand it better. But we also need government willing to show some leadership, just look at what the polls are showing, not just look at twitter ish following. Think of how fast those hotlines got built in virginia. Partnershipprivate worked very, very well. Ive ridden on it. Here. Ther question over one of the mics. Patrick sable, metropolitan program at brookings. Quick question. Historically about 27 of all Infrastructure Spending comes from the federal government. So really states and localities thepicking up the most of tab. What can the federal government do to support those innovations, likeprivatepub partnerships or support gas tax increases across the country . State and local leaders do and what can your organization dozen to help them push organizations do to help them push the ball forward . Tom . Governmentral actually, if you take an individual project, can put as 50 in. And state and the local theunities would divide up other 50. If youre the governor today and the mayors and others in the other communities involved, youre going to be very, very putting your money up on project that youre not sure that the federal governments going to bring their money. Now, they probably think, well, or later butooner in the meantime were holding the bag. So what are people doing . Theyre having their own meetings, governors, and local officials. Theyre saying were going to fift fix thatt road, bridge next year. Its already starting to happen. When that happens, then people laid off or people are not hired. Think people have to understand that this is a partnership not only the Publicprivate Partnership but this is a partnership between levels of government. Of us or one of the Major Players takes a walk, tells me youre not going to be able to finish the equation. You know more about that than i do. I was just going to jump in it goesthat i do think both ways, though. Gridlock ata lot of the local and state level for infrastructure initiatives that would add value not only to these regions but to the country at large. Think of the example we hear so much about the newport in charleston, that its just in gridlock over the permitting and things. I dont know if this is an anecdote or true, but if true, itspretty shocking that taking long tore get these permits longer to get these andits to do the digging things in the port than to build the entire panama canal. Situation where every locality and state could block the national highway us to goat enabled from coasttocoast in our transportation. Agree 100 with tom on the investment issue. But also, you know, this this regulation that gets down and is so bogged down that i think thats need. Ing we also and its really, really dangerous when you look at the grid. Ic thats a case where a country like brazil i use brazil, again, they have a national gr grid. Course, we dont. We saw the consequences of that with the devastating storms and things in new york. I think this is where the governors also could come step up and maybe do some big things that would impact the overall nation as state and local issues as well. In . Ay, you wanted to jump one of the things the states. An do is continue to innovate lets assume that we get a bill before money runs out this summer. Were going to be using kind of system, the old model. And whether we increase the gas not, its not a longterm sustainable solution to our problem. Look at virginia, whether you like what they did or you dont like what they did, they were willing to think outside the box and to innovate. Other states are doing the same thing. Tose ideas need to come washington to be considered for nextver whenever the bill is is accomplished. Tamaraking forward to lundgrens leadership on this issue. I know that there are a lot of other associations that would like to be a part of dialogue for the future. We need to get over this hump right now. To put everything on the table for future years. I know we have a question back. Ere in the go ahead. Hello. Eric, american shipper magazine, covering for supply chain trade. Into one question. Now youre like a white house correspondent. [laughter] everyone talks about educating the congress about the infrastructure. More and more it seems like most it, but at the end of the day its these other thatde political factors influence things. So whether its a gas tax increase or other funding, you know, at the end of the day how to when youd that have a lot of movement for Smaller Government or no taxes, how do you gets, to some funding mechanism when ies are set in stone . States some mores are taking on investment on their own. They dont want to wait necessarily for the federal government some. Funding advancing some money forport deepening for port deepening. So i guess the whole question of devoluti in, is that a catch 22 . If forwardthinking states think importantait, this is to our economy, they start investing, then thats a good thing. On the other hand, are they sending the message of theyre going to do is t so we dont have to . Lets start with the ideology question. As youre making your case on deal withll, how do the rise do you deal with the rise of a antispending political ideology on cal toll hill . Capitol hill . Jay . Its all about education. Its all about educating the people to register, to follow their votes with their members of congress. Vote. We certainly do that at the nam. Educate ourwork to 12,000 members and the millions them,loyees that work for but also the general public on these issues. I am think we have an obligation a Business Community, as well as labor and others, to let know whats at stake here. Forets very frustrating manufacturers to have this skepticism coming from certain about aof congress basic function of the United States government. To overcome that is through elections. We have seen, and tom mentioned we have seen some of these primaries taking place where more reasonable heads are prevailing. That there is an awareness now among the American People that extremism is not going to create solutions, that there needs to be two sides together to get the job done. Were going to continue to work on that. Were going to continue to register people to get them out to vote, to work with other chamberions like the and our 240 council on manufacturing associations to out. He word the other interesting question was on states and whether or not as the states the slack from the federal government, what message is that sending here in washington. Tackle that one . I think its an encouraging the american system still works. Believe that the comments that that the before is most powerful politicians in our are mayors of challenging governors. Were going to see a lot more of time. Ver that simply sends a message to in washington. If you want to stay as relevant as you want to be, you better really hard on the part of the system that you have control over. The Commerce Clause is argued both ways all the time. Depending on on it what the issue is. [laughter] nancy, go ahead. This isnt the only issue where well see action at the state and local level and sort washington. Sons to so it can be one among many. I see that happening across the board. Somebody mentioned that one of the characteristics that the looking for for those that will vote in 2014 is, will work with the other side, you know, to get passed this gridlock . A little disappointing to me is when you go passed that the poll,uestion in people want their canaled date to work to get to their positi position, not necessarily just to work to actually compromise. So its sort of from the ground up, which is why we need leadership to go beyond sort of what people are thinking as a kneejerk reaction and talk about and show action in trying to get consensus on important things like infrastructure. We are just about out of time. Cant he did boria, ill give you last word on this these othersome of questions today. Where do think this conversation goes from here . I would just add on the states that in addition to the governors and the mayors, its whatexciting to think of some of the regional associations of governors are youg because increasingly really cant talk about states as much as economic regions. Usually thats across party lines. Just in terms of where we should go from here, obviously we have a Great Coalition thats come here. Er we know we have to move out in both the educational arena as as building this Business Case for why infrastructure is nationsart of our future, competitiveness, job creation, innovation. Theink that, again, opportunity is now. Its not later. The extent to which we can begin to kind of put together an action agenda of the nearterm, mediaterm and longterm things very, veryould be powerful. And National Infrastructure ofk, i hope its the first many. Terrific. Weve now reached the part of cnbcwhere our producer on would be screaming wrap, wrap in my ear. Panelill just say to the thank you very much for talking about this fascinating conversation. You so muchu, thank for listening to it. Thank you all. [applause] all right, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to take a 15minute refill your can coffee, your water, your juice, whatever it is youre doing. Please keep an eye on the monitors. Well call you back in 15 minutes to hear from a great panel on International Competitiveness on newsmakers, mel watt, former North Carolina congressman and director of the Housing Finance agency. Hell talk about his plans for the agency that oversees fannie and freddie mac. Thats sunday, 10 00 a. M. And eastern on cspan. You can remember who first influenced you to just think aboutissues, think government . My father and mother. I putso impressed by it it in a book called 17 traditions, how they raised t, two boys, two girls, in a factory town in new england. Theas conversation around dinner table. There was no looking at tv or listening to radio or looking like this. We talked. They challenged us. Way, and asked us questions and needled us, joked with us. Line was freedom requires civic responsibility. You cant just say i want freedom. Most people think theyre free free,e theyre personally you know, buy their own clothes, make their own friends, go want, listen to whatever music, eat whatever they want. That doesnt mean theyre free. Lly democracy. Engage in my dad used to say, if you dont use your rights, youre rights. Lose your ralph nader, sunday, q a. M. , cspans president obama traveled to encourageednesday to Infrastructure Spending. He called on congress to act on restoring the Highway Trust Fund and outlined his plan to expedite infrastructure projects. Thepresident spoke at Washington Irving boat club in tari town. He was introduced by new york governor andrew cuomo. This is 25 minutes. Its an honor. Much. You very thank you. Afternoon, westchester first to chris horton, it is an with mario confused cuomo. Let me tell you that, chris. Lets give a big thank you to and all of his colleagues who are doing a. Antastic job for us [applause] i have been out there during the winter months when theyve been bridge. On this i can tell you those are really rough and tough conditions. And theyre doing a great job. Time. E on theyre on budget. Lets give them another round of applause. [applause] good afternoon to all of you and welcome, mr. President , to the great state of new york. Lets give the president a great new york welcome. [cheers and applause]