Sept. 26, 2019 – A panel of experts speaking at a House Budget Committee hearing echoed concerns about the nation’s failure to keep pace with its infrastructure challenges. Since 2010, China has spent roughly 8% of its GDP on infrastructure. European countries, on average, dedicate roughly 5% of their GDP to infrastructure. In the U.S., the figure is roughly 2.4% “The United States faces severe challenges in the funding, financing and permitting of its heavy civil and social infrastructure,” said R. Richard Geddes, a Cornell University professor and director of the Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy. “The main challenge the United States faces today is inadequate funding of infrastructure, which refers to the underlying dollars needing to pay for it. Declining revenue from the federal gas and diesel tax is devolving responsibility for funding to state and local governments by default.”
We Are Lagging Behind
