WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Below are Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV's prepared remarks at the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security hearing on September 24, 2013 titled, "Rebuilding the Nation's Infrastructure: Leveraging Innovative Financing to Supplement Federal Investment."

Decades of under-investment in our roads; airports and air traffic control systems; rails; and ports have left us with an overstrained transportation system at serious risk of being unable to meet our needs. Once a global leader, our infrastructure doesn’t even make the top 10 in the World Economic Forum’s rankings of countries’ infrastructure.  

How did we get here? Sadly, we have grown accustomed to an ad-hoc, piecemeal approach to funding the nation’s infrastructure, spending the bare minimum in order to keep our transportation network functioning. This is unacceptable, and it’s fair to say that we in Congress have simply not done our jobs when it comes to investing for the future. Collectively, Congress has shown neither the will nor the courage to put aside divisions and work together to find a solution to our infrastructure deficit.  

But, the problem won’t simply go away on its own. In fact, it will only continue to grow until we get serious about making the critical investments required to rebuild and expand our infrastructure. Don’t take it from me. Look to our manufacturing industry. Just last week the National Association of Manufacturers reported that a staggering 70 percent of manufacturers feel that our nation’s infrastructure needs serious improvement. To boot, 65 percent believe infrastructure spending is not sufficient to respond to competitive demand. This is a serious economic issue.

I wish I were confident that we would heed these calls and that there would be a genuine bipartisan effort to dramatically increase investment in the nation’s infrastructure. However, I’m afraid that simply won’t be the case. Federal funding programs, like the Highway Trust Fund, are supported by pay-fors such as the federal gas tax which, due to decreasing miles driven and increasing fuel efficiency, annually fall far short of funding needs.  

These overly siloed formula programs cannot meet our multimodal infrastructure needs. Existing funding programs aren’t equipped for strategic investments across modes on transformational projects that can really make a difference. I’m talking about projects that eliminate crippling bottlenecks in major freight corridors. I’m talking about multimodal transit and rail projects that bring communities together and empower the traveling public.

So where do we go from here? I say it’s time to look beyond just the Federal ledger. We need to use the limited federal funds we have wisely by leveraging them to attract other sources of capital and increase overall infrastructure investment.  

It is well documented that pension funds, private equity funds, and other alternate sources of capital are able and willing to put billions into infrastructure projects in this country. Now, more than ever, we as policymakers should be creating an environment and providing tools to incentivize these pools of funding into infrastructure projects.  

One way to do this is through an independent federal infrastructure fund or financing authority as a means to supplement and leverage existing funding programs. The Commerce Committee has legislation before it to create such an entity, and I look forward to working on this concept and moving the legislation forward. This wouldn’t solve our needs on its own, but could certainly be a viable part of the solution.

The bottom line is that we all need to come together – the Senate, the House, the Administration, and the stakeholder community – and truly explore all options for increasing infrastructure investment. There is no magic solution and we won’t get anywhere unless we work together. The status quo is a recipe for failure. It’s time to get serious.

I know Senators Warner and Blunt have similar views on the situation at hand and I thank them for working together on this issue. I’m excited that the Commerce Committee is once again leading the discussion about investing in the nation’s infrastructure and I know the esteemed panel of witnesses before us will provide a wealth of thoughtful insight.   

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