Fact of the Week: The United States Faces a $3.7 Trillion Gap in Infrastructure Investment Spending

Source: "A Comprehensive Assessment of America's Infrastructure," (American Society for Civil Engineers, Reston, Virginia, 2025).

Commentary: For more than two decades, the United States has been underinvesting in critical infrastructure, from broadband and energy to drinking water and roads. In its annual report card for American infrastructure, the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the United States a C, an improvement from past years, but a grade reflecting the urgent need for greater investment in the 18 categories of infrastructure it assesses. Recent improvements have resulted from the trillions of dollars in appropriations for infrastructure in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed in 2021 and 2022, respectively. However, these bills still leave a significant gap in financing, with the United States falling $3.7 trillion short of the $9.1 trillion required to bring infrastructure to a good level of repair nationally. Continuing to fund infrastructure investments would save American families $700 annually and would leave critical infrastructure less vulnerable to extreme weather and natural disasters.