An infrastructure stimulus plan for the COVID-19 recession

How can Congress design an infrastructure stimulus that responds to today’s recession while still making forward-looking investments? This brief uses historical data and the earliest indicators from the COVID-19 downturn to make the case for a people-first approach to federal infrastructure stimulus. We specifically recommend that Congress:

• Launch a Boost Program (and associated Boost Card) to help cover the cost of essential transportation, water, energy, and broadband services for over 50 million households
• Pass a Keep America Moving grant program to protect state-of-good-repair initiatives and labor markets by expanding direct grants to state and local governments with requirements to spend on short-term maintenance projects
• Launch an InfraCorps Program to create and strengthen infrastructure career pathways for underrepresented and disadvantaged groups by securing multiyear funding for workforce development in the skilled trades and, potentially, full-time wages for 3 million apprenticeships
• Launch an ASCEND Program to promote long-run economic competitiveness by launching four public competitions and four private research investment programs that modernize water infrastructure, accelerate clean energy adoption, expand broadband networks and skills development, and address transportation and land use environmental injustices.

The total cost of these programs would range from $167 billion to $327 billion.