Shifting Gears on Federal Infrastructure Funding

The landmark Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) has provided huge increases in federal funding for transportation infrastructure over the past four years. As we approach the last year of IIJA funding, coalitions have formed to enact something similar in the forthcoming surface transportation reauthorization (2026) and FAA reauthorization (2028-29).

The first of these groups was the Modern Skies Coalition, unveiled in May 2025. Its 60 members include just about every aviation trade association, 14 aviation unions, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It has argued for over $30 billion of new federal general fund spending, primarily to modernize the country’s aging air traffic control system—which really does need large-scale capital investment in both facilities and technologies. This coalition has already gotten Congress to provide $12.5 billion for FAA to begin modernization, and it continues to argue for another $20 billion, calling the first sum merely a “down payment.”

In December came the similar Move America Coalition, thus far with 23 members: highway and transit organizations, related trade associations, four unions, two government bodies, and (again) the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Its number one objective is for 2026 surface transportation reauthorization funding at or above IIJA levels.

In my view, both of these campaigns are misguided. To be sure, more capital investment in aviation and surface transportation infrastructure is needed, as this country continues to grow. But this is an unwise way to go about addressing these needs, for two reasons.

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