Americans want responsible spending on infrastructure, report shows
While most Americans are willing to pay for infrastructure repairs, they want accountability about where their money is going, according to a survey released Jan. 8 by the Washington-based Building America’s Future (BAF). The poll found that 94 percent of Americans are concerned about the nation’s infrastructure, and 81 percent are willing to pay an extra 1 percent in taxes to finance its repair.
Respondents were most concerned with making sure the work was done on time and within budget, and with being able to see exactly where the money was being spent, according to BAF. “Americans don’t want their children educated in portable classrooms, and they don’t want to waste millions of gallons of water from leaky old pipes,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a BAF co-founder along with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, said in a statement. “They want the federal government to smartly invest in our nation’s infrastructure.”
Rendell said the public wants the government to choose its infrastructure priorities wisely, and Bloomberg said people want “government to clean up its act and take responsibility for both success and failure.”
View a summary of the survey.