Congressional Response to Fragile Foundations: Analysis of Congressional Infrastructure Legislation Introduced Since 1988
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 3, Issue 1
Abstract
In 1988, the National Council on Public Works Improvement (NCPWI) issued a report, which made various recommendations with respect to national infrastructure policy. The recommendations included a commitment to double current spending, rational capital budgeting at the federal level, and incentives for better financing and management of public works investments. NCPWI's report was especially notable because Congress created the commission and asked for its views. The present paper analyzes Congressional legislation submitted since the issuance of the report and assesses the degree to which Congress responded to the guidance contained within the report. The analysis shows that there were many bills submitted that picked up the recommendations, but none of these bills passed, indicating a lack of national consensus around these issues. The only major bill that did pass and that did contain some of the ideas pondered by NCPWI was the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), indicating that while transportation has coherence as a national concern, infrastructure does not yet have that full-blown identity at the Congressional level.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Choate, P., and Walter, S. (1981). America in ruins: beyond the public works pork barrel. Council of State Planning Agencies, Washington, D.C.
2.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO). (1988). Public works infrastructure: policy considerations for the 1980's, Washington, D.C.
3.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO). (1991). How spending for infrastructure and other public investments affects the economy, Washington, D.C.
4.
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). (1990). Rebuilding the foundations: a special report on state and local public works financing and management, Washington, D.C.
5.
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). (1991). Delivering the goods—public works technologies, management, and financing, Washington, D.C.
6.
National Council on Public Works Improvement (NCPWI). (1987). Fragile foundations, Washington, D.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Mar 1, 1997
Published in print: Mar 1997
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.