Bill Text: MI SCR0012 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: A concurrent resolution to urge Congress to enact legislation for a new National Infrastructure Bank.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-09-12 - Referred To Committee On Insurance And Banking [SCR0012 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-SCR0012-Introduced.html
senate Concurrent Resolution No.12
Senators Alexander, Hollier, Bayer, Bullock, Polehanki and Wojno offered the following concurrent resolution:
Whereas, There is a widely acknowledged shortfall in infrastructure spending in the nation. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the county a D+ in its 2017 report card and estimates the nation needs to spend $4.6 trillion to bring current infrastructure up to a state of good repair. The United States Chamber of Commerce reports that the infrastructure shortfall is $3.7 trillion, and North America's Building Trades Union says the shortfall is $4 trillion; and
Whereas, The infrastructure crisis in Michigan mirrors that of the nation. The ASCE gave the state a D+ in its 2018 report card. They estimate 36 percent of Michigan's 120,000 miles of paved roads are rated in poor condition and 10.5 percent of the state's 11,800 bridges are structurally deficient. There is at least a $1.3 billion gap in school capital expenditures and over $2 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs. According to TRIP, a DC-based transportation group, the total cost to Michigan's motorists of driving on Michigan roads is over $14 billion each year. Wear and tear on Detroit drivers cost $824 per person per year. The drinking water crisis in the state has made national news, and is far from over; and
Whereas, Congress can enact legislation for a new National Infrastructure Bank, to be capitalized at $4 trillion. This will be financed the same way as previous such banks, by monetizing existing Treasury debt, rather than creating new debt. This nonpartisan model was started by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton with the First Bank of the United States. It has been successfully done four times in our nation's history, including under John Quincy Adams, under Abraham Lincoln, and last under President Franklin Roosevelt. It will create 25 million new high-paying union jobs in the process and end the poverty in our rural and urban areas; and
Whereas, A new National Infrastructure Bank can help finance all the projects the nation needs, including high-speed rail, roads, bridges, schools, water systems, flood control, and all else. Franklin Roosevelt's national infrastructure bank, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, not only helped build Michigan's infrastructure, but it also paid for much of the industrial output of World War Two, making Michigan the Arsenal of Democracy. The RFC subsidy Defense Plant Corporation paid for the lion's share of Michigan's war-time conversion from auto production to military equipment, ensuring that we defeated Hitler and won the war; and
Whereas, The New National Infrastructure Bank has been endorsed by many organizations, including the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers, the National Congress of Black Women, and the Democratic Municipal Officials. Seventeen state legislatures have introduced resolutions in support, three state houses passed resolutions in a bipartisan vote this spring, and city and county councils have done the same; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That we call upon Congress of the United States to introduce and pass legislation creating a new National Infrastructure Bank in the tradition of Alexander Hamilton; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the entire Michigan delegation, Congress, and to the President of the United States.
