Susan Lent Quoted on the Potential for Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation

Icons of Infrastructure has quoted Akin Gump partner Susan Lent in the article “Bipartisanship May Yield New Infrastructure Initiatives.” The article examines whether members of Congress might cross political lines to work together on a new infrastructure spending bill.

This would not be the first time that Democrats and Republications come together to work on major legislation, the article reports. Earlier this year, for example, both parties passed the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, reauthorizing provisions of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014. The new law also authorized the EPA to provide financial assistance to state infrastructure financing authorities for state loan funds to implement water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

Lent, whose practice focuses on infrastructure and transportation, said infrastructure projects continue to have broad bipartisan support in Congress and members of both parties may consider increased infrastructure funding as part of their fiscal year 2020 and 2021 budget deals.

Lent noted that options such as a potential gas tax increase, indexing the gas tax or imposing a vehicle miles travel tax are currently being discussed by representatives from both parties. Another means of building bipartisan support, she noted, could be the reinstatement of earmarks that would allow members to secure government funding for projects in their districts as part of an agreement to increase infrastructure spending.