Why Expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program Matters

Abstract

In 1919 the German sociologist and philosopher Max Webber stated, “Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective.” Nearly a century has passed, and these words still hold true: politics and public policy move forward in small increments. Yet change does come, and we can, from time to time, point to a single moment or piece of legislation as the dawn of a new policy era. The enactment of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP‐21) represents such a moment, though perhaps not for the reasons you might expect (or have hoped).