We need an infrastructure bank

America's infrastructure is failing. Our nation receives a "D" grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers. However, you don’t need to be an expert to understand the impact of rusting bridges, or broken water mains, or to live in a rural area with poor cellphone and broadband service.

Lack of modern infrastructure will hurt us economically. Foreign competitors, be they in Europe or Asia, are investing the resources to allow their people and businesses to compete in our interconnected world economy.

China has established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, whose members include many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, including U.S. allies Australia, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia. While other nations are acting, we are falling behind.

We know the problem, and we know the solution. The need is at least $5 trillion over the next ten years to bring our infrastructure rating from a “D” to a “B,” according to the experts. But where will the money come from? Neither the federal government nor the States have the funding or borrowing capacity to foot the entire bill.

Fortunately, there is bipartisan consensus in Congress that we must significantly invest in America's infrastructure. The tough question is where to get one trillion dollars in funding without further busting federal and state budgets.