President Trump and congressional leaders have said that addressing America’s deteriorating infrastructure is a high priority. Lack of adequate investment over the years has taken its toll on the nation’s roads and bridges, water systems and waterways, electrical grid, airports, rail, transit, and broadband availability. This investment gap is also a drag on U.S. economic growth. A recent analysis by the Economic Development Research Group found that continued underinvestment could cost the U.S. economy nearly $4 trillion in lost GDP by 2025.
In the coming weeks, under the direction of former Hudson Distinguished Fellow and now Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the administration will reportedly release more details on its infrastructure plans. But while there is broad, bipartisan support for fixing our infrastructure, big questions remain about prioritizing needs and, of course, how to pay for those priorities.
To examine these and other questions, Hudson Institute hosted a timely conversation on June 8 about the importance of modernizing America’s infrastructure to spur sustained economic growth and job creation and improve the quality of life for all Americans. U.S. Senator John Boozman offered his perspective in opening remarks drawing on his experiences serving on the Committee on the Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
A panel discussion followed the senator’s remarks featuring the Hon. Aubrey Layne, Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation; David Horner, former deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation and chief counsel of the Federal Transit Administration; Skip Stitt, author of Hudson’s recent report Infrastructure Spending and Public-Private Partnerships and former senior deputy mayor and COO of Indianapolis under Mayor Steve Goldsmith; and Jennifer Aument, a commissioner for the Virginia Port Authority and Group General Manager, North America at Transurban.
Please join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Israel's Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Ofir Akunis and Executive Director of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute Robert Greenway, moderated by Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East Director Michael Doran.
Please join Hudson Institute to discuss what has gone wrong with US policy toward Venezuela and how the Biden administration and 118th Congress can reinvigorate efforts to support democracy so that all Venezuelans can have a brighter future.
Join Hudson Institute for a conversation on these issues and more with Ambassador Adela Raz, former ambassador of Afghanistan to the US and visiting fellow at Hudson Institute, and Ambassador Husain Haqqani, former ambassador of Pakistan to the US and director of Hudson Institute’s South and Central Asia program.
When Chinese leader Xi Jinping brokered a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the White House welcomed the news. According to the administration, reduced tensions between the Middle Eastern countries further the president’s long-stated goals and does not represent a significant change in China’s role in the region.
