An Infrastructure Proposal for Biden's First 100 Days in Office

Mark McNulty writes a policy proposal for President-elect Joe Biden's first 100 days in office that takes its model from the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who also took office in a time of unprecedented crisis and established the significance of the first 100 days as an indicator of a presidency's direction.

"Among Roosevelt’s priorities during his first 100 days were getting Americans back to work, providing relief for the sick and elderly, and getting industry going again. Sound familiar?"

McNulty is sharing the work of the Regional Plan Association, which compiled a list projects and regulatory actions for the Biden administration to target in the first 100 days. The list focuses on the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan region where the RPA operates, but also includes a few proposals of national and international scope.

The first item on the list: providing operations aid for U.S. public transit agencies, which received only a temporary reprieve from a stimulus package approved by Congress that as of this writing has encountered a surprise roadblock from the office of the outgoing President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The RPA also recommends funding the capital plans for the transit and housing agencies in the region, including the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the New York City Housing Authority, New Jersey Transit, and Amtrak.

"Now is not the time to retreat from long-established infrastructure priorities and policies," reads the article. "Now is the time to invest in places and people to quicken recovery and secure a prosperous and equitable future for the region and nation."