2025 House Resolution 216

Whereas, In its 2021 report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) reported that it had graded the United States with a C- regarding the current state of its infrastructure. To date, there remains a two point five-trillion-dollar infrastructure investment gap that has continuously grown over the past decade. ASCE estimates that by 2039, this continued underinvestment across the country will cost our nation ten trillion dollars in GDP, more than three million jobs, and over two trillion dollars in export revenue; and

Whereas, As of 2023, the ASCE has also scored Michigan’s infrastructure with a grade of C-, matching the general state of infrastructure disrepair nationwide. Many of Michigan’s roads remain in appalling condition. The ASCE has rated approximately thirty-three percent of Michigan’s one-hundred and twenty thousand miles of paved roadways in poor condition, forty-two percent in fair condition, and a mere twenty-five percent in good condition. Wayne County, as just one example, has reported nearly sixty percent of its roads to be in poor condition. Finally, eleven percent of Michigan’s bridges have been deemed structurally deficient, higher than the reported national average of seven-and-one-half percent. These poor infrastructure conditions cost Michigan motorists, collectively, billions of dollars each year in wasted time and fuel, traffic crashes and injuries, and vehicle degradation; and

Whereas, The Detroit Public Schools Community District remains in a state of dilapidated repair and requires significant capital investment to restore. These schools continue to suffer from inoperable boilers, corroded plumbing fixtures, cracking exterior walls, leaking roofs, and faulty electric panels known to be fire hazards. While the district received approximately seven hundred million dollars in funding through COVID relief, it is reported that there remains a two-billion-dollar investment gap. This lack of funding has direct consequences for Michiganders living within the district; in 2018, for example, the drinking water in fifty-seven of the eighty-six tested Detroit schools was found to have elevated levels of both copper and lead; and

Whereas, According to Eric Oswald, Director of the Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division in the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Michigan has between 300,000 and 500,000 lead water service lines, of which only around 50,000 have been replaced to date. Nationally, the cost to replace these service lines may exceed one-hundred billion dollars, fifteen billions dollars of which was allocated in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. For Michigan alone, the cost to replace these lines could total five billion dollars. Lead water poisoning causes permanent cognitive damage in young people. Therefore, all service lines of this type should be immediately replaced; and

Whereas, Housing insecurity predates COVID-19 and, following further complications exacerbated by the pandemic, remains a pressing concern for Michiganders across the state. As of July 2024, there remains a statewide housing shortage of around one-hundred and forty-one thousand units. An interim report on the topic of homelessness published in consultation with the City of Detroit in 2023 estimates that on any given night, over one thousand five hundred people in Detroit experience homelessness. Over the course of a year, the report estimates that nearly ten thousand individuals experience homelessness. Without funding available to secure more affordable housing for Detroit’s population, these numbers will only continue to increase; and

Whereas, This year, Congress introduced H.R. 5356, the National Infrastructure Bank Act. This legislation would have created a five-trillion-dollar public bank providing loans only for infrastructure projects. The bank would not have required any new federal spending to be capitalized and no new federal taxes. This bank would be capitalized by existing Treasury debt, as have previous institutions; and

Whereas, The National Infrastructure Bank Act is modeled on the establishment of previous banks utilized to build much of our nation’s infrastructure. Similar banks were employed under Presidents George Washington, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. With the resources consolidated and deployed by virtue of the most recent iteration of a national bank, President Roosevelt was able to bring our nation out of the Great Depression and lead us to victory in the Second World War; and

Whereas, A new National Infrastructure Bank will help finance all of Michigan’s infrastructure needs. This bank, as described in H.R. 5356, would exist solely to build infrastructure, generate jobs, and battle poverty. Funding from this bank would be used to fix bridges, roads, schools, and drinking water systems; build affordable housing units; and install broadband across the nation. The bank would finance new rail and mass transportation projects, connecting Michigan to high-speed rail corridors in the Midwest and dramatically increasing manufacturing in our state; and

Whereas, Support for a National Infrastructure Bank is widespread across our state and the nation. At least twenty-nine state legislatures introduced or passed resolutions of support for H.R. 5356 or previously-introduced legislation on the topic. Local-level municipal bodies across the nation have also expressed support, including: Detroit City Council, Dearborn Heights City Council, Highland Park City Council, Inkster City Council, Hamtramck City Council, Romulus City Council, Redford Township Council, Cleveland City Council, Pittsburgh City Council, Chicago City Council, Providence RI City Council, Philadelphia City Council, New York City Council, Toledo City Council, Akron City Council, and many more. National organizations that endorse the establishment of National Infrastructure Bank include: the Public Banking Institute, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, the National Latino Farmers and Ranchers, the National Asian-Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators, the US High Speed Rail Association, the American Sustainable Business Council, the National Association of Minority Contractors, the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters, and many others; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge Congress to support a National Infrastructure Bank as embodied in H.R. 5356 or equivalent legislation; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Governor, and the Michigan congressional delegation.