UFI Steering Committee Members Convene in Washington
United for Infrastructure Steering Committee members are making their voices heard in Washington, D.C. with the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National League of Cities (NLC) recently hosting member convenings and meetings with key legislators.
Key Takeaways from NACo
Nearly 2,000 participants from counties, parishes, and boroughs across the country attended the 2025 NACo Legislative Conference. During NACo’s Transportation Policy Steering Committee meeting and in meetings with legislators, NACo members emphasized these key messages:
Congress needs to sustain the momentum created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in its next surface transportation bill with robust funding levels, more equitable distribution of funding, and streamlined project delivery.
Counties are thinking big about how they can make significant investments in and upgrades to their infrastructure to better connect their communities and foster economic development.
Counties are ready to work hand-in-hand with Congress to identify specific challenges and develop the corresponding legislative solutions.
County governments own and maintain 44 percent of public road miles and 38 percent of America's bridges. NACo is urging legislators to include direct, guaranteed funding for locally owned roads and bridges in the next surface transportation bill.
NACo’s Transportation Policy Steering Committee also passed an interim policy resolution calling on Congress to include transportation-specific permitting reforms in the next surface transportation bill. Bipartisan permitting reform should eliminate redundancies, maximize flexibility and efficiency, and bring down project timeframes and costs, while maintaining protections for community input, safety, and the environment.
Key Takeaways from NLC
The National League of Cities’ annual Congressional City Conference brought more than 1,100 local government officials and advocates to Capitol Hill to meet with federal legislators. During meetings with Congressional leaders, NLC members highlighted the important work that cities, towns, and villages are undertaking in partnership with the federal government and these key messages about infrastructure investment and resilience:
Congress must maintain and reauthorize infrastructure funding to meet local needs, including providing direct funding to local governments and expediting the review process for infrastructure projects.
Control over broadband infrastructure must stay with local leaders to ensure affordable, high-speed internet for all communities, while the federal government’s help is needed to safeguard communities against rising cyber threats by expanding cybersecurity grants.
Local governments need additional federal support for pre-disaster mitigation to reduce taxpayer costs and protect public safety.
NLC’s Transportation and Infrastructure Services Federal Advocacy Committee also met during the Congressional City Conference to discuss the need to strengthen local-federal partnerships around infrastructure investments and how a new surface transportation bill could better meet the needs of cities, towns, and villages.
On Tuesday, our Steering Committee partners, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will release their highly anticipated 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. Following the release, ASCE members will be on Capitol Hill to meet with congressional members to educate them on the Report Card's findings and make their own case for continued federal infrastructure funding.
While UFI hopes recent investments have led to improvements in ASCE's 2021 C- Report Card grading, we recognize that the IIJA is a down payment on our national infrastructure.
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