Women were the big winners in the November 2018 mid-term election with a record number of at least 113 females expected to be seated in the 116th Congress beginning in January. There also may be another less talked about winner because of November’s popular vote – America’s infrastructure.
The success of women congressional candidates has created a Democrat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives where 103 women are expected to be sworn in (when all results are certified). Women have never held more than 84 of the 435 seats in the House and will now comprise nearly one-quarter of the members of the lower chamber.
When elected in 2016, President Trump promised an aggressive infrastructure policy, but implementation has been unsuccessful during the first two years of his administration. With Republicans maintaining their hold of the Senate, the president will now be forced to work diligently with both parties to advance his infrastructure agenda.
On the heels of the women’s election wave, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will once again become Speaker of the House and has expressed a willingness to work with the administration on finally funding America’s infrastructure. When the president took office in 2017 he proposed an infrastructure plan of nearly $1.5 trillion but it was to be funded with a paltry $200 billion federal stipend with the remaining investment coming from privately-held companies.
Both Democrats and Republicans have been longing to repair America’s failing roads, bridges, transportation systems, electrical grids, water systems, airports and more for years. The President and members of our next Congress are showing signs of working together to return America’s infrastructure to one that is the envy of the Western world.
Pelosi has already had conversations with the president and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, both of whom expressed a willingness to work with the Democratic House on a major infrastructure package.
“Those infrastructure initiatives will create good-paying jobs and will also generate other economic growth in their regions,” said Pelosi. “Hopefully we can work in a bipartisan way.” Polling overwhelmingly suggests elected representatives of both parties and most Americans support repairing and rebuilding our aging infrastructure.
It’s time for compromise and there are initial signs that our newly-elected Congress can get it done. It’s what is good for all Americans. Both men and women. Jeff Bonior, Staff Writer for the Alliance for American Manufacturing