The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has turned up the spotlight on U.S. infrastructure needs, proposing a plan to increase funding for highways, water, energy and other projects, and also to find more workers to carry out the work and require federal agencies to speed up project approvals.
The chamber has been a long-time infrastructure advocate, but its new plan, unveiled formally on Jan. 18, includes a particularly bold provision: a 25¢-per gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax, which now stands at 18.4¢.
室内首席执行官托马斯·多诺休（Thomas Donohue）表示，可以以每年5¢五年的时间逐步淘汰这种增加，或者一次生效。
他指出，自联邦汽车燃气税（Federal Motor-Fuels Levy）上一次提升以来的25年中，这一增加将达到一分钱。Donohue在1月18日的新闻发布会上说：“我们要说的是，‘让我们赶上吧。’
瓦斯税徒步旅行是商会提案的一部分，Donohue在其华盛顿特区总部的基础设施会议上概述了该会议厅的提议。
The plan also sees a role for private-sector financing and recommends expediting federal project reviews, by, for example, limiting the decision-making time for permit decisions to two years.
In addition, the proposal seeks to increase the construction workforce by such means as strengthened apprenticeship programs and by allowing immigrants to stay in the U.S. who have been shielded from deportations under two federal programs.
The Trump administration has called for an end to one of the programs, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Established by the Obama administration, DACA protects rom deportation undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
The other program is Temporary Protected Status (TPS), established in 1990, which allows entry to the U.S. for people from specified countries after natural disasters or “an ongoing armed conflict.”
特朗普政府宣布将终止来自海地，萨尔瓦多，洪都拉斯和尼加拉瓜等几个国家的移民的TPS。
Donohue said that nearly 100,000 people covered by DACA and TPS work in the construction industry.
Other industry officials at the conference welcomed the chamber’s plan, including the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association and Association of American Railroads.
Pete Ruane, ARTBA’s CEO, said that any new infrastructure initiative “must include a permanent solution to the Highway Trust Fund.”
他还说，燃油税是为该基金提供收入的“最透明和有效的方式”。
The trust fund has been kept out of a deficit position through revenue infusions over the past decade from the general fund. Without new revenue, the fund faces a “disaster” as soon as two years from now, Ruane said.
