ICYMI: Brian Deese and Jake Sullivan Outline How the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Bolsters America's Economic Competitiveness in Detroit Free Press Op-Ed

"This law is the most significant step in more than a generation to bolster America's global economic competitiveness. It is an unambiguous signal to the world that the United States is ready to win the competition for the 21st century economy."

Today, ahead of President Biden's trip to Detroit, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan penned an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press outlining how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will bolster America's global economic competitiveness and once again place cities like Detroit at the heart of the American industrial strategy. The law, they wrote, is the backbone of President Biden's "vision for a 21st century American industrial strategy– a framework to strengthen the nation's supply chains and rebuild our industrial base across sectors, technologies, and regions." Its historic investments will support stronger supply chains, increase connectivity between people and places, create more good-paying American jobs, and enable the rapid diffusion of innovation from lab to market.

Read the full op-ed below:

Detroit Free Press: Op-ed: With the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, America is Back in the Competition
[By Brian Deese, Director of the National Economic Council, and Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor, 11/17/21]

Infrastructure is often rightly thought of in the most local terms – local potholes and local politics. But the impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law the President signed on Monday will significantly reverberate beyond our borders. This law is the most significant step in more than a generation to bolster America's global economic competitiveness. It is an unambiguous signal to the world that the United States is ready to win the competition for the 21st century economy.

After decades of delay and decay, watching as our competitors pursue aggressive industrial strategies of their own, America's standing in the global economy no longer reflects the potential of the American people. For instance, America's infrastructure ranks 13th in the world and no U.S. airports rank in the 25 airports worldwide. We are responsible for less than 10 percent of global battery manufacturing capacity – a key input into the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry – while China controls 80 percent. This lack of investment extends to high-speed rail, steel, renewable power production, semiconductor manufacturing, education, and beyond. Nobody knows this better than Detroit, which has been at the heart of American industrial strategy in the past and now can again, which is why President Biden is coming today.

We are not behind because of happenstance. It is the result of decades of decision-making that has prioritized short-term efficiencies over long-term resilience, security, and sustainability. But, with the Infrastructure Law, the United States will begin to pivot. While China may currently outspend the U.S. on infrastructure as a share of GDP by threefold, the growth rate of U.S. infrastructure spending is poised to overtake China, with the passage of this law.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a part of the President's vision for a 21st century American industrial strategy – a framework to strengthen the nation's supply chains and rebuild our industrial base across sectors, technologies, and regions. This strategy rests on several key principles: the need to eliminate supply chain vulnerabilities; to adapt to the growing threats of climate change; to creatively leverage the full buying power of the federal government; and to integrate racial, gender, and geographic diversity throughout policy decision-making.

None of this is achievable without a strong infrastructure foundation, which is why the historic investments in this law form the backbone to this industrial strategy. It supports stronger supply chains, increases connectivity between people and places, means more good-paying American jobs, connects our businesses to global markets, and enables the rapid diffusion of innovation from lab to market.

Roads, bridges, trains, airports and ports are the lifeblood of strong supply chains. They move products from one stage of production to another, from raw materials to the products families see on store shelves. As many American families have experienced first-hand, access to goods – whether that be a phone, a new car, or a packaged food – is highly dependent upon our physical infrastructure. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $110 billion to repair and rebuild the nation's roads and bridges, $25 billion for airports, and $17 billion to improve infrastructure at coastal ports, inland ports, and waterways.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's investments will also enhance innovation across industries and improve American productivity. Public transit connects workers to education and career opportunities, increasing their productivity. The internet connects consumers to more products, entrepreneurs to more customers, students to new learning opportunities, and inventors from both rural and urban communities across the country to one another. This law also makes strides to ensure all Americans benefit from its investments. It creates a new federal program to reconnect communities previously separated by discriminatory highway policies. It will make over 1,000 public transit stations ADA accessible. And, it invests in environmental remediation programs – like cleaning up Superfund sites – to combat the negative health toll pollution disproportionately has on Black and Hispanic families.

Finally, investments in infrastructure are investments in good-paying jobs in the industries of the future. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests across the full clean energy supply chain – from creating a National Geologic Mapping Program and minerals research facility, to launching an Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, to jumpstarting advanced battery recycling, and spurring new advancements in materials processing. According to the Wall Street Journal, the law will "jump-start the electric-vehicle industry" and "eventually to deliver funds to numerous industries."

In the days ahead, we will work with Congress to pass the President's Build Back Better Law which will help get Americans back to work by providing child care, preschool and elder care, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and health care and deliver historic investments in the clean energy transition. And we will deliver on R&D, semiconductor and manufacturing investments in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which passed in the Senate earlier this year.

Building a durable American industrial strategy is a long-term project, but with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal now signed into law, we can take comfort knowing that the United States is taking an historic step forward.