In his February speech to Congress, President Donald Trump reiterated his intention to push for a major infrastructure bill-one of his central campaign promises. Since congressional conservatives are reluctant to spend the money, Trump will need the support of a substantial number of Democrats to get a bill passed.
What could a bipartisan infrastructure bill look like?
In a new feature co-published by the Washington Monthly and right-of-center magazine the American Conservative, Christopher Leinberger, chair of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business, shows us what President Trump’s infrastructure plan should really look like.
In the article, which you can read here in the current issue of the Washington Monthly, Leinberger argues that Democrats and Republicans should both oppose the kind of gargantuan, indiscriminate approach Trump and Steve Bannon seem to favor. Instead, a smart infrastructure bill would focus on delivering what the market says Americans actually want: walkable communities.
Leinberger’s piece is also the focus of an upcoming joint event sponsored by the American Conservative, the Washington Monthly and the R Street Institute this Thursday on March 23 at noon. Lunch will be served. Panelists will include:
Rob Puentes, President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation
Gabe Klein, Co-Founder of CityFi and former commissioner of the Chicago and Washington D.C’s Department of Transportation.
Salim Furth, Research Fellow in macroeconomics at the Heritage Foundation.
“Our two magazines come from different ideological perspectives,” says Washington Monthly editor-in-chief Paul Glastris, “but we agree that general infrastructure spending ought to support what the market already tells us Americans want more of, and that is walkable communities.”
“Many conservatives have come to realize that infrastructure spending is not value neutral,” says Lewis McCrary, executive editor of the American Conservative.” After decades of postwar spending that ignored the desire for walkable and authentically sustainable neighborhoods, Americans should at least have the option of living in a traditional urban environment-following principles equally applicable to cities, suburbs, and small towns.”
RSVP to the event here.
Panel Discussion: “Building Infrastructure by Walking Across Party Lines”
Christopher B. Leinberger
Moderator: Jonathan Coppage, Visiting Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute
Thursday, March 23, 12pm-1:30pm
R Street Institute
1050 17th St NW #1150
Washington, DC 20036
