A New Jobs Bill? How about simply funding the Surface Transportation and Aviation Bills!

It seems frustrating that new bills are continuously being created to fuel jobs creation and getting the economy restarted while older infrastructure funding programs fail to get passed because there isn't sufficient funding. Each of these new package seem to imply that they are public works packages, looking back to the days of Roosevelt, to get people back to work. In reality the stimulus or jobs bills are so watered down that only very small percentages of the funding ever make it to infrastructure projects.

The stimulus package was a success as far as the 5-8% of the funds that actually made it to infrastructure projects. I wish I could quote the exact figure, but the bill is so convoluted, I am not sure anyone knows. The timetables on the infrastructure work was so aggressive that only a few select types of projects could be ready to bid in time. I would credit the stimulus bill for jump starting many state design-build programs as that was one of the mechanisms that proved successful to allocate larger sums of money to construction projects in the short timeline. For many states the stimulus package provided a lot of paving, bridge membrane replacement, and culvert projects, but the time lines made replacement of critical bridges virtually impossible unless the design work had been previously started or if the project was advertised using the design-build methodology.

It has been very hard to hear some say the stimulus was a failed public works bill. I think engineers held up our end of the bargain, but the bill redirected too much of the funding to non-infrastructure related causes. As far as job creation, providing a short term windfall does not encourage the addition of jobs. This may save some jobs for the duration of the stimulus, but employers can not hire staff only to fire them only a few months later. More companies simply increased overtime during the key months of the stimulus. While on the subject, extending funding bills such as the Aviation Reauthorization on 3 to 6 month increments also does not go a long way to job creation. These incremental extensions again encourage short periods of overtime without new jobs being added.

The new jobs bill looks like another short term spending plan that will soon lead us right back to where we were before in began. The toughest part is that our aviation and surface transportation reauthorization bills will continue on short term extensions at best or may even lapse while congress debates the new jobs bill. A better plan is to reject the jobs bill and provide fully-funded Surface Transportation and Aviation bills. Provide multi-year bills that will allow states to implement strategic reconstruction plans for our infrastructure. This would include some short-term projects to stimulate the construction industry and some long-term projects to stabilize both engineering programs and future construction. It is longer term bills that allow companies to add staff instead of simply abusing existing staff like we have done for the short-term durations provided by these band-aid style bills.