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12 PalletCentral • September-October 2021 palletcentral.com POLICY PLAY AT O n its face, the question seems ridiculous. A quick scan of legislation over the past year and a half shows that Congress has passed significant spending legislation with bipartisan support. However, if you have watched the news over the past several months, it's been a political roller coaster ride as both sides have struggled to build consensus on significant, long-term spending to fix the myriad of things that remain broken throughout the U.S. economy. The latest stimulus bill passed without GOP support in the House or the Senate. Democrats want to spend trillions of dollars, raise taxes, increase support for labor unions, and reform healthcare. Republicans want to focus on hard infrastructure initiatives, leaving the 2017 tax reform intact, and fully paying for all new spending. At first glance, these two positions seem irreconcilable and at polar opposite extremes. The magic of Washington, what little remains, is that despite the rhetoric, opinion pieces, and talking heads, consensus and compromise find a way to win out every so often. Even with all of the partisanship, the Senate passed the largest investment in a century. Yes, the path forward is uncertain in the House, but the nature of the Senate makes this a remarkable accomplishment, nonetheless. So, what is in the bipartisan infrastructure bill? There is a lot, but some of the relevant highlights include: • No Tax Increases: A critical feature of the bipartisan bill is that it does not include language that rolls back tax reform that propelled the manufacturing sector over the past four years. • Fixing Roads and Bridges: The bill provides $110 billion in new federal roads and bridges – both new construction and repair and rehabilitation. • Port Upgrades: It invests $17 billion in port infrastructure upgrades, critical waterways management, and flood mitigation projects. • Efficient Manufacturing: The bill provides $2.1 billion to help manufacturers improve energy, water, and material efficiency, load management, and onsite generation. The funds include a special set-aside for small and medium firms. • Resiliency: Includes $46 billion for cybersecurity to address critical infrastructure needs, including wildfire, waste management, flood mitigation, and weatherization. • Better Data: Importantly, the bill prioritizes and invests in producing better data that will guide decisions to prevent pollution through more cost-effective improvements to water, land, air, and climate stewardship. This bill results from intense negotiations by Republicans and Democrats with valuable input from the private sector, including the NWPCA. For decades the nation's infrastructure has been falling behind the rest of the developed world and has held back our economic potential. If this bill passes, it will result in a once-in-a-century investment that will position the U.S. to remain a global leader. Not only because it's increasingly difficult for businesses to operate on the crumbling and outdated roads and bridges, but also because this investment will spur job growth in critical areas where we are falling behind. The bipartisan bill passed the Senate with significant widespread support; why will it take so long to get to the President's desk? Simply put, it is not big enough for some members of the President's party. Many Democrats in the House strongly believe that they need to do more on priorities that will not receive bipartisan support. They will not vote for the bipartisan bill until those priorities are addressed. As a result, it will be difficult for the bipartisan bill to earn a vote in the House until the Senate passes a Democrat-only reconciliation package that tackles these additional concerns. Reconciliation may sound familiar to you because we recently went through this process with the latest stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan, which passed earlier this year. Reconcili- ation is a budgetary process that allows for spending legislation to become law through a simple majority vote. This process is crucial in the Senate, where legislation Can Congress Still Accomplish BIG Things? By Jason Ortega Congress should invest in making it easier for employers to find qualified labor, provide incentives to make capital investments, and they should incentivize the use of more sustainable products.

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