Invest in Our Nation's Infrastructure

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) was a historic step toward addressing our nation’s infrastructure challenges, but there are notable areas where Congress must continue to act on improving our surface transportation network. We encourage the 119th Congress to build on past investments and enact long-term legislation before IIJA expires this September. The next surface transportation reauthorization should ensure we have the necessary resources to keep our nation’s transportation network competitive with our adversaries, grow our economy, and keep America moving safely and efficiently. Below are key issues NSSGA continues to support:

It is critical that Congress provides the necessary investment to ensure the United States stays competitive with our foreign adversaries, like China, which leads the world in transportation infrastructure spending relative to GDP. Before September 2026, Congress must consider the next surface transportation reauthorization and send a strong message to nations worldwide that the U.S. can unite to improve our outdated systems; support increased domestic manufacturing and population growth; advance our national economy; and stay competitive on the world stage. NSSGA supports a multi-year reauthorization of the Federal-aid Highway Program, with reliable, predictable multi-year funding. Multi-year funding, with appropriate year-over-year increases, is the foundation upon which state and local governments and their partners across the construction industry plan, design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain infrastructure year-over-year.

While we applaud Congress for fully funding the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) in 2021, Congress must look beyond the traditional five-year timeframe to ensure long-term solvency. The next surface transportation reauthorization bill must incorporate visionary and evolutionary revenue increases to avoid a devastating shortfall, which has been put off for decades. NSSGA supports sustainable revenue sources to adequately fund needed investments and create financial certainty, including: vehicle-miles-traveled (VMTs) proposals; bonding measures; registration fees for electric and hybrid vehicles consistent with the user-pays principle; national registration fees; and the raising and indexing of the federal gas tax, which has been unchanged for over 30 years. As discussions about the HTF unfold, we support consideration of all potential funding methods. It’s crucial to explore sustainable and stable funding sources, while explicitly avoiding reliance on yearly appropriations, which could jeopardize the consistency and effectiveness of infrastructure investments.

One of the key policy changes made under IIJA was the creation of new federal Build America Buy America (BABA) sourcing requirements, which include the addition of “construction materials” to Buy America preferences across federal infrastructure programs. Due to sourcing challenges, the construction materials industry fought for a statutory exclusion. Congress recognized these challenges and provided an exemption in Section 70917 (c) of “cement and cementitious materials, aggregates such as stone, sand, or gravel, or aggregate binding agents or additives,” as well as wet concrete and asphalt. We ask Congress to recognize and maintain this commonsense exclusion in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill.

We strongly believe Congress should maintain and support material neutral, performance-based research and deployment improvement investments into building materials solutions. We urge policymakers to incorporate material-neutral language and refrain from language that gives one construction material a meritless advantage over others.

Industry operators value innovation. We are constantly working to develop state-of-the-art technologies to enhance durability and improve the performance and sustainability of our nation’s infrastructure.

Congress should not limit critical research dollars or promote one material over others through exclusive marketing activities. Projects should be selected on their merits, and decisions should be left to engineers who best understand the unique costs and performance specification variables of their projects, and those with technical expertise in designing and executing projects. This will ensure that only the best solutions for our infrastructure challenges are delivered at a cost-friendly solution for taxpayers.