Davis aims to get Democrats to negotiating table on infrastructure

Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois says it’s incumbent upon Democrats to understand that national infrastructure improvements must rise on their list of top priorities.

“I think we’ve got a great opportunity to look at infrastructure, but it’s going to take bipartisanship and that’s frankly what I’m most concerned about,” Davis told The Ripon Advance.

The House GOP currently is working to garner votes to pass the first priority in President Donald Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan: privatizing the U.S. air traffic control system and separating its operations from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Then would come implementation of the rest of Trump’s proposal to modernize America’s roads, bridges and electrical systems, the key pieces of the president’s domestic economic agenda that helped lift him to his current post.

While aspects of Trump’s infrastructure plan are facing opposition from Democrats, Davis said, “I will continue to do everything I can to help get them to the table.”

“This is something we need to get done.”

The 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2997), known as the 21st Century AIRR Act, was introduced June 22 and then passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee June 27. The bill has 19 cosponsors.

One major aspect of the bill, air traffic control reform, would involve creating a not-for-profit corporation to operate the nation’s air traffic control services while allowing the FAA to focus on safety. The FAA has experienced difficulties with implementing its modernization effort known as NextGen, which has cost more than $7 billion so far, but which lawmakers say has produced few benefits for taxpayers and consumers.

“President Trump is in favor of our plan. American taxpayers have invested billions for the FAA to upgrade aviation technology and we are still decades behind countries like Canada,” said Davis, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Aviation Subcommittee. “The status quo is completely unacceptable. It has led us to fall way behind other countries.”

Davis said whenever members of Congress discuss the topic of infrastructure, “the next big question that always comes up is how will we pay for it,” he said.

In fact, Davis suggested that what’s needed is a diversified portfolio of funding options that would be part of the U.S. tax code and designed to guide how the nation pays for such improvements.

“If other countries are doing it, we have to plan to move into this century and do it, too, to rebuild our roads and bridges,” he said, although a current bill proposing how to do so does not exist yet.

How do you get the average American on board with such spending?

”If not now, when?” Davis said. “We’ve done our job in Congress talking about highway reauthorizations, water reauthorizations, rail reforms and others — those were the bills that were big newsmakers. But infrastructure has been left behind, not just by the federal government, but by the states, too.”

The Highway Trust Fund and the gas tax, for example, can’t be the country’s only means of trying to subsidize massive coast-to-coast infrastructure improvements, said Davis, who also serves on the Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

“We’ve got to change the status quo. If we don’t plan ahead, options like those could end up broke — that would be like investing your entire 401k in one stock. No one does that. We have to plan differently.”

On a personal note, Davis said his family has helped inspire his bipartisanship spirit, which he hopes to bring to the Democrats.

“My wife’s uncle was running for a local office as a Democrat when I was in college and I helped out because it was family, which transcends political preferences,” Davis said.

Terry Ryan got elected and served 12 years as the county clerk in Davis’ hometown of Christian County, Illinois. And when Davis decided later to run for public office, Ryan turned around and helped him campaign for this office as a Republican.

“You do it because you love your family,” Davis said. “Some things just transcend partisanship.”