January 20, 2021, marked the official start of the Biden-Harris Administration and Day One of putting the new administration’s “Build Back Better” plan into action. Leading up to the first day of this historic US administration, members of our Southeast US Public Policy team, Amol Naik and Austin Harrison, along with former US Congressman for Georgia Jack Kingston, hosted a timely discussion with two leading figures in US infrastructure policy, former US Congressman and Chair of the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Bill Shuster (R-PA) and former US Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater.
Watch the complete panel discussion here.
Their conversation spanned a range of infrastructure topics. The point of consensus was clear – infrastructure with a capital “I” could be that singular bipartisan-backed issue on which the Biden Administration could show effective leadership to begin unite a harshly divided country. However, there are many lingering questions, such as how to pay for the big development ideas, how to ensure infrastructure is equitable, and how to work with a Congress where the Democrats have the slimmest possible majority. Former Chairman Shuster and former Secretary Slater shared their views and projections on what and how the Biden-Harris Administration should prioritize to accelerate the recovery and rebuilding of the US economic, social, physical and environmental infrastructures in an effort to create more equity, and provide the American people with the opportunity and tools to become more resilient.
Highlights from the discussions were also captured in this P3 Bulletin article.