Pete for America
For Immediate Release: January 10, 2020
Contact: Chris Meagher

Pete Buttigieg Releases “Building for the 21st Century,” An Infrastructure Plan to Create 6 Milion New Jobs Across the Country

SOUTH BEND, INToday, Pete Buttigieg released “Building for the 21st Century,” a bold, comprehensive infrastructure plan that will create more economic opportunities for individuals and communities. His plan will create 6 million well-paying jobs, ensure that everyone has access to clean drinking water and affordable ways to get to work and empower local communities to lead on infrastructure development so that they can support safe, vibrant, growing neighborhoods.

“The current administration has been incapable of keeping its promise to pass major infrastructure legislation, and as a result, critical projects around the country are stalled and communities are paying the price,” said Buttigieg. “Cities and towns have been leading the way on new infrastructure partnerships and approaches, but too often the federal government does not help as it should—failing to fund and prioritize infrastructure and relying on outdated standards. Under my administration, local governments will finally have a partner in Washington. As a former mayor, I know that priority-based budgets made locally are better than budget-based priorities set in Washington.” 

Pete’s administration will invest over $1 trillion to work with states, cities, and other local governments to build the sustainable infrastructure of the 21st century. Pete’s plan will:

  • Create six million well-paying jobs with strong labor protections, especially in underrepresented communities
  • Commit $10 billion to attract and train a skilled infrastructure workforce, including by supporting pre-apprenticeship programs that collaborate with Registered Apprenticeships. 
  • Protect millions of families from lead in paint and water through a $100 billion investment in a Lead-Safe Communities Fund. The Fund will provide resources for communities to clean up and remove lead in paint, soil, and water. Pete administration’s will also replace 3 million lead service lines by 2030 and support best-in-class corrosion control practices. 
  • Lower water bills for over 10 million families. Pete will work with Congress to create a $16 billion Drinking Water Assistance Matching Fund that coordinates with the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The Fund will provide a federal funding match for states and local water systems that assist low-income families with water bill payments, slashing the average water bill by 50 percent - which is equal to over $600 on average - for 10 million families. 
  • Invest $160 billion to support cities and towns in providing equitable public transportation, including improved options for subway, light rail, bus rapid transit, and last mile service. Pete will provide dedicated funding for communities that have limited access to basic services like grocery stores to expand their transportation options. He will also dramatically expand funding for rural public transportation.
  • Cut the backlog of critical road repairs in half over 10 years. Pete will make sure that 50% of our roads in poor condition and structurally deficient bridges get fixed within 10 years. His DOT will require states to develop achievable plans for maintaining their roads and make progress on these plans before they use federal funds for new roads or expansions. 
  • Repair school infrastructure. Investing in K-12 education means investing in our schools, so students can learn in a safe and healthy environment. Pete will invest $80 billion in a new school repair program, in which states allocate grants and loans to school districts based on poverty levels. He will provide dedicated funding to help meet U.S. trust and treaty obligations to repair the Bureau of Indian Education schools. 
  • Mitigate past injustices in transportation planning. Since the 1950s, highway expansion projects have split apart Black and Latino neighborhoods nationwide and driven up pollution in these communities. Pete’s DOT will work with local stakeholders and nonprofits to create a list of communities that require additional investment to mitigate harms from past highway projects. He will encourage cities to use federal highway funds to revitalize and reconnect communities through innovative projects, including new underpass designs, highway caps, and turning underutilized bridges into complete urban streets.   

Pete’s agenda will build a new era of economic success that truly uplifts America’s working and middle-class families. Read the full agenda HERE.

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https://peteforamerica.com/policies/infrastructure/

BUILDING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

An Infrastructure Plan to Create Jobs, Increase Resilience, & Usher in a New Era of Opportunity

Infrastructure is essential to our daily lives. In principle, excellent infrastructure enables our communities to thrive. For example, parents can make their kid’s soccer game or get home in time for dinner rather than sitting in traffic for hours. Everyone has safe drinking water and breathes clean air. Cities and towns invest in parks, modern school buildings, and streets that support local jobs and attract businesses and families. State-of-the-art airports, public transit, highways, waterways, and railways enable people to travel safely and goods to get to market. And high-speed Internet supports new industries and connects friends and family across the world.

Yet over the last four years, politicians in Washington have failed to deliver for the American people. The current administration has been incapable of keeping its promise to pass major infrastructure legislation, and critical projects around the country are stalled because of it. Meanwhile, our roads and bridges crumble, our schools fall into disrepair, water systems poison our children, and our flood protection systems fail as climate change accelerates. When our infrastructure works well, we hardly notice. These days, we notice our infrastructure a lot.

In communities across America, we know that investments in infrastructure create well-paying jobs and provide essential services like water and transportation that help us raise families and start businesses. This is why cities and towns have been leading the way on new infrastructure partnerships and approaches. Yet too often, as I saw in South Bend, the federal government does not help as it should—by failing to fund and prioritize infrastructure or by relying on outdated standards.

Under my administration, local governments will finally have a partner in Washington. As a former mayor, I know that priority-based budgets made locally are better than budget-based priorities set in Washington. That’s why we will ensure that federal funds go to the cities, counties, tribes, towns, and states that need more resources to create good jobs and combat climate change through smart infrastructure investments.

My infrastructure plan achieves three things: opportunity, equity, and empowerment. First, we will create opportunities for individuals and communities, including millions of well-paying union jobs. Second, we will close disparities and ensure that everyone has access to adequate infrastructure like clean drinking water and affordable ways to get to work. Finally, we will empower local communities to lead on infrastructure development so that they can support safe, vibrant, growing neighborhoods.

My administration will invest over $1 trillion in working with states, cities, and other local governments to build the sustainable infrastructure of the 21st century. We will achieve measurable outcomes for opportunity, equity, and empowerment:

  • Create six million well-paying jobs with strong labor protections, especially in underrepresented communities.
  • Ensure that every American has access to clean drinking water.
  • Lower water bills nationwide, slashing the average bill by 50 percent–the equivalent of over $600–for 10 million families.
  • Protect millions of families from lead in paint and water through a $100 billion investment.
  • Update and fix the majority of our roads and bridges in poor condition by 2030.
  • Invest in sustainable infrastructure that enables 50 percent of U.S. counties to grow over the next 10 years, as measured by an increase in jobs, businesses, or population.

KEY POLICIES INCLUDE:

Jobs

  • Create six million well-paying jobs with strong labor protections. For every infrastructure project that his administration funds, Pete will protect and support the Davis-Bacon Act to ensure that workers are paid fair wages and that taxpayers receive the best value for their money.
  • Commit $10 billion to attracting and training a skilled infrastructure workforce, including by supporting pre-apprenticeship programs that collaborate with Registered Apprenticeships. He will also establish a National Infrastructure Accelerator and offer $100 million in grants to support initiatives that introduce K-12 students to infrastructure and clean energy jobs.
  • Dramatically expand access to infrastructure jobs for underrepresented communities. Pete will commit $100 million to expanding Apprenticeship Readiness Programs that help job seekers from underrepresented communities enter apprenticeships and careers.
  • Create a $200 billion transition fund for workers in a clean energy economy. Pete’s transition fund will support programs to align mining and fossil fuel workers with new well-paying jobs with strong labor protections in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure.

Clean Water

  • Ensure lead-free water by investing $20 billion in replacing three million lead service lines by 2030 and supporting best-in-class corrosion control. As a Midwestern mayor of an industrial city, Pete understands the severity of this threat and knows that addressing these problems is not easy. That is why Pete will provide the resources to tackle this crisis by establishing a $100 billion Lead-Safe Communities Fund to address lead in water, paint, and soil.
  • Prevent and address PFAS contamination by establishing science-based standards that limit the amount of PFAS in drinking water and developing safe alternatives to PFAS in commercial use.
  • Lower water bills by an average of 50 percent–the equivalent of over $600–for 10 million families through a Drinking Water Assistance Matching Fund. Water and wastewater services are unaffordable for nearly 14 million households, and this number could triple within five years. The Fund will provide a 1:3 federal funding match for states and local water systems that assist low-income families with water bill payments.
  • Invest over $30 billion in water and wastewater infrastructure to expand access to basic services, upgrade existing systems, and drive innovative approaches.

Public Transportation

  • Invest $150 billion to support cities and towns in providing equitable public transportation, including improved options for subway, light rail, bus rapid transit, and last mile service.
  • Expand accessible rural public transportation with a $12 billion investment.
  • Improve the connectivity and safety of our national rail network.


STALLED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN IOWA

  • Des Moines public transit: The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) recently received $17.3 million in federal funding to relocate its south-side maintenance garage, which is undersized and prone to flooding. 1 Yet the project, expected to cost $68 million, remains in the early stages of planning.
    • Key policy: Pete will invest $100 billion in equitable public transportation.
  • Schools in debt: Iowan schools often struggle with crumbling infrastructure, leading many to incur debt to maintain adequate facilities. The Clear Creek Amana School District has taken on $35,000 of debt per student to meet rising enrollment and the demands of aging buildings. 2
    • Key policy: Pete will create an $80 billion school repair program.
  • Lead contamination: In 2016, tests in the Kalona Water Department found lead levels that were three times higher than the EPA’s safety threshold. 3 Several other cities also reported lead levels above the EPA maximum. But as of 2016, only one city in Iowa—Story City—has performed a thorough lead service line replacement.4
    • Key policy: Pete will invest $100 billion in a Lead Hazard Mitigation Fund for lead paint remediation and lead pipe replacement.

Transportation: New Options for Communities

  • Ensure that federal transportation projects improve access to opportunity by determining how effectively they connect people to jobs and services.
  • Double the BUILD program and create a Local Leaders Office at the Department of Transportation (DOT) to help local communities more easily access federal funds and expertise.
  • Create a new $3 billion grant program for programs of national significance to facilitate collaboration across states and regions.


STALLED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

  • Public transportation projects: The NHDOT is planning to build a commuter rail line, which will extend north from Boston and go through Nashua and Manchester. The DOT hopes that the line would add thousands of jobs and attract new businesses. 5 These projects require more support.
    • Key policy: Pete will invest $100 billion in equitable public transportation, including intercity rail.
  • PFAS contamination: The former Pease Air Force and the Saint Gobain plastics facility in Merrimack are contaminated. 6
    • Key policy: Pete will establish science-based standards to limit PFAS levels in water. He will triple EPA’s budget for environmental cleanup funds to help remediate PFAS in polluted sites.
  • Schools in need of repair: There is an ongoing moratorium on school building aid. The New Hampshire Department of Education estimates that ~$650 million is needed to fund the repair of schools. 7
    • Key policy: Pete will create an $80 billion school repair program.

Roads & Bridges

  • Provide dedicated funding to repair half of roads in poor condition and structurally deficient bridges by 2030. Pete’s DOT will strengthen State of Good Repair Performance Management requirements and require states to develop achievable plans for maintaining their roads before they use federal funds for new roads or expansions. He will also create a $50 billion grant program for states to repair bridges.
  • Power millions of new electric vehicles (EVs) by investing $6 billion in new charging infrastructure. Investing in EVs is a tool both to combat climate change and to drive manufacturing job growth. Pete will provide $6 billion in grants and loans through the American Clean Energy Bank for states and cities to partner with private companies and unions on installing publicly available charging infrastructure powered by clean energy. At least 40 percent of the funds will be available for projects in multi-unit dwellings and economically disadvantaged communities.
  • Make the Highway Trust Fund solvent. The Highway Trust Fund has been insolvent since 2008, causing uncertainty about whether states can complete critical projects. Pete will inject $165 billion into the Fund to ensure that it remains solvent through 2029.

Road Safety

  • Build safer roads for all, including by doubling funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program to install more accessible sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes. Pete will provide incentives for states, cities, and counties to build safe, accessible roads and retrofit existing unsafe roads. His DOT will work with tribal communities to ensure that roads in Indian Country are safe for families.
  • Increase funding in the Highway Safety Improvement Program for building safer rural roads. Pete’s DOT will also fund studies to improve road safety on rural roads, which account for 50 percent of traffic fatalities and are over twice as deadly as urban roads.
  • Connect funding to safety performance by requiring state transportation agencies to set targets that reduce fatalities and injuries and are consistent with a national Vision Zero goal. Pete’s administration will require states to actively improve their safety records or road design processes, or else lose federal funding for other roadway projects.
  • Incentivize safe driving practices. Pete will increase federal funding to $1 billion a year for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Highway Administration to address unsafe driving behavior, research solutions for distracted driving, and strengthen enforcement.

Air & Shipping

  • Repair and modernize inland waterways through a $5 billion investment.
  • Invest in cleaner and more efficient ports.
  • Make our aviation system safer and more accessible for small communities.


Community Empowerment

  • Protect millions of families from lead poisoning by investing $80 billion in lead-based paint remediation and ensuring that the EPA fully enforces the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule.
  • Double funding for Community Development Block Grants.
  • Create good infrastructure jobs in local communities, including by extending the DOT’s Local Labor Hiring Preference Pilot and promoting Community Benefit Agreements.
  • Repair school infrastructure. America’s $46 billion annual funding gap for repairing school buildings harms many students, including students in communities of color who suffer from poor heating and mold in classrooms. Pete's administration will provide schools with $80 billion in grants and loans to repair classrooms and facilities.
  • Offer cities and states $3 billion to launch programs that lower infrastructure costs for low-income families.
  • Mitigate past injustices in transportation planning. Pete will use innovative solutions like complete urban streets to mitigate the negative effects of highway expansion projects on Black and Latino neighborhoods.


Broadband

  • Ensure full high-speed broadband coverage with an $80 billion Internet For All initiative.
  • Ensure that students can use the Internet to learn and succeed.
  • Make broadband more affordable, especially for low-income families.


STALLED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

  • Bridges: A bridge on state road 20 in Greenville County has been shut for repairs since late 2018. It was supposed to be finished in March 2019, but the new target completion date is now April 2020. 8
    • Key policy: Pete’s plan will create a $50 billion bridge repair program to ensure that critical and delayed bridge repairs have the resources they need.
  • Struggling small water systems: More than 150 small drinking water systems in SC have had multiple Department of Health cases against them in the past twenty-five years, with most systems facing only small fines for providing unclean water. 9
    • Key policy: Pete’s plan invests $90 billion in water, which means more than tripling the current amount of federal investment. This will help to fund upgrades for outdated infrastructure and water cleanup.
  • Lead in water: In the past decade, 41 small utility companies in SC have exceeded federal standards for lead in their water, including Belton, SC in 2019 - highlighting the need for improvements to these systems. 10
    • Key policy: Pete is investing $20 billion in replacing lead pipes and helping utilities with corrosion control, so lead does not leach into water.
  • Flood protection: Hurricanes in recent years have also caused damage to many of the state’s dams - such as the dozen dams which collapsed during Hurricane Florence. 11
    • Key policy: Pete will establish a new $50 billion Community Flood Protection to help states repair dams and levees and develop natural infrastructure solutions.

Climate & Resilience

  • Repair and modernize flood protection systems in every community that needs it by 2030.
  • Prepare for rising seas with a $40 billion Sea Level Defense Fund.
  • Empower communities to develop tailored solutions for resilience through Cooperative Extensions for Climate and Flood Resilience.
  • Increase reliable water supply to mitigate the effects of drought.
  • Expand pre-disaster mitigation programs for inland and coastal areas.
  • Create a U.S. Infrastructure Cyber-Protection Taskforce to protect against digital threats.
  • Build a more resilient electric grid by improving risk management and emergency response.
  • Protect against wildfires, including by recruiting 5,000 firefighters and fire management experts.


STALLED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN NEVADA

  • Urban/rural divide: NV faces a $450 million backlog of road and bridge repairs, disproportionately concentrated in rural areas. This costs Nevada drivers $3.2 billion annually. Experts point to a severe disparity between the infrastructure needs of NV’s two densely populated areas and its ~15 rural counties. 12
    • Key policy: Pete’s plan will ensure that 50% of critical road repairs occur by 2030. He will create a $50 billion bridge repair program with dedicated funding available for rural areas.
  • Water: The EPA estimates that NV will need over $5.3 billion in investment over the next 20 years to meet the state’s clean water needs. Las Vegas and Reno will need investment to accommodate their rapidly growing populations, and NV’s rural areas have historically lacked resources and funding to meet their water needs.13
    • Key policy: Pete will invest over $30 billion in water infrastructure. This is a massive expansion of resources for upgrading existing water infrastructure and finding innovative approaches to improve wastewater services.
  • Rural schools: Like much of NV’s infrastructure landscape, the state’s rural school districts suffer from chronic underfunding and neglect. For example, two of the 10 school buildings in White Pine County are over a century old.14
    • Key policy: Pete will create an $80 billion school repair program.

Innovation

  • Develop smart and integrated infrastructure by establishing a Digital Infrastructure Council and tasking every infrastructure agency with creating a digital infrastructure strategy.
  • Lead the world in safe and zero-emissions autonomous vehicle technology.
  • Create the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure to research innovative infrastructure technologies and solutions.


STALLED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN CALIFORNIA

  • Public transit in San Francisco: BART (San Francisco’s subway system) applied for federal funding to expand its capacity in August 2015. In May 2019, it called on the federal government to release $1.25 billion of money from the Capital Investment Grant Program. The project was delayed by Trump’s DOT for over a year. 15
    • Key policy: Pete will double the size of the Capital Investment Grant program and streamline project processing to ensure that projects get federal support faster.
  • Lead: About 2,000 children are diagnosed with unsafe levels of lead in their blood each year in Los Angeles County, likely due to old homes that have not been renovated. 16
    • Key policy: Pete will invest $80 billion in lead remediation for paint, windows, and soil in homes. He will enforce the Lead Repair, Replacement, and Painting rule to ensure that any renovations are done using lead-safe procedures.

FOOTNOTES

  1. Des Moines Register: DART awarded $17 million federal grant to move operations centerBack to content
  2. Iowa Public Radio: Growing Iowa School Districts Turn to DebtBack to content
  3. Des Moines Register: Thousands of Iowans' drinking water threatened by lead contaminationBack to content
  4. Ibid.Back to content
  5. https://www.nhpr.org/post/nh-capitol-rail-project-advances-next-stage#stream/0Back to content
  6. https://www.wmur.com/article/study-on-effects-of-pfas-contamination-set-to-launch-at-pease/29444460Back to content
  7. http://reachinghighernh.org/2019/02/18/while-the-building-aid-program-is-in-moratorium-schools-have-to-find-alternative-ways-to-make-their-spaces-work/Back to content
  8. https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2019/05/03/sc-20-bridge-project-greenville-county/3627745002/Back to content
  9. https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article228530804.htmlBack to content
  10. https://www.thestate.com/news/special-reports/article224593265.htmlBack to content
  11. https://www.thestate.com/latest-news/article218982240.htmlBack to content
  12. https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ASCE-Report-Card-2018-Final.pdfBack to content
  13. Ibid.Back to content
  14. Ibid.Back to content
  15. https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/infrastructure/article/21083363/barts-crunican-we-cant-wait-any-longer-our-system-is-already-at-capacityBack to content
  16. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-30/la-me-lead-poisoning-la-countyBack to content