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 pil