Infrastructure

GAO finds unlawful withholding of EV charger funds (NEVI)

| Importance: 7/10

GAO concluded that DOT’s actions on NEVI funds violated the Impoundment Control Act, finding $2.74 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure funds were unlawfully withheld. The decision mandates the Transportation Department must continue funding the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure …

Government Accountability Office (GAO) DOT FHWA OMB Biden Administration budget impoundment gao omb electric-vehicles +3 more
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FAA Reviews Verizon Contract Amid Starlink Competition

| Importance: 8/10

The Department of Transportation placed the $24 billion Verizon FAA contract under review, with Elon Musk positioning Starlink as a potential alternative vendor. This review comes amid claims about the existing communication system’s reliability and potential performance issues in air traffic …

Elon Musk Donald Trump Verizon Communications SpaceX Trump Administration government-contracts infrastructure telecommunications federal-procurement
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Puerto Rico Selects LUMA Energy for $1.5 Billion Grid Privatization Following McKinsey's Recommendations, Quanta Services Connection Raises Questions

| Importance: 9/10

The Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority recommended LUMA Energy—a joint venture between Quanta Services and Canadian Utilities Limited—to operate Puerto Rico’s electrical transmission and distribution system for 15 years in exchange for $1.5 billion, with annual management fees of …

LUMA Energy Quanta Services Canadian Utilities Limited Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority McKinsey & Company +1 more puerto-rico privatization luma-energy prepa mckinsey +5 more
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State Corporate Tax Rates Decline 33% Over Three Decades - ALEC's Interstate Race-to-Bottom Costs States $43-57 Billion Annually in Lost Revenue

| Importance: 8/10

By 2019, research documented the cumulative impact of ALEC’s systematic corporate tax-cutting campaign: the effective state and local tax rate on corporate profits had declined from 5.9% in 1989 to 3.9% in 2019—a 33% reduction representing the successful culmination of three decades of …

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) State Legislatures Corporate Lobby Good Jobs First Economic Policy Institute +1 more alec corporate-corruption tax-policy race-to-bottom fiscal-crisis +5 more
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Federal-Aid Highway Act Creates Interstate System, Enables Destruction of Black Urban Neighborhoods

| Importance: 9/10

On June 29, 1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, creating the Interstate Highway System—the largest public works project in American history. While celebrated as an engineering triumph, the $25 billion program (equivalent to over $300 billion today) systematically …

Dwight D. Eisenhower U.S. Congress Bureau of Public Roads General Motors American Petroleum Institute +2 more infrastructure institutional-racism urban-renewal corporate-interests automotive-industry
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National Road Reaches Wheeling, Demonstrating Federal Infrastructure Capability Despite Constitutional Debates

| Importance: 6/10

The National Road, also known as the Cumberland Road, reaches Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River after seven years of construction, completing the first federally funded interstate highway in American history. President Thomas Jefferson had promoted the road to support westward …

U.S. Congress Thomas Jefferson George Washington Henry McKinley infrastructure internal-improvements westward-expansion constitutional-interpretation
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Madison Vetoes Bonus Bill for Internal Improvements on Constitutional Grounds, Setting Precedent Against Federal Infrastructure

| Importance: 7/10

On the last day of his administration, President James Madison vetoes the Bonus Bill, legislation proposed by Representative John C. Calhoun to earmark the $1.5 million revenue “bonus” and future dividends (estimated at $650,000 annually) from the recently established Second Bank of the …

President James Madison John C. Calhoun Henry Clay U.S. Congress constitutional-interpretation internal-improvements infrastructure states-rights institutional-obstruction
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