New Report Offers a New Governing Framework to Make America Build Again 

The solution to infrastructure paralysis is a legal framework that vests authority in designated officials to make necessary judgements 

NEW YORK, NY — The Department of Government Efficiency presents a unique opportunity to overhaul infrastructure permitting and procurement and cut down on government inefficiency. In a new Manhattan Institute report, Philip K. Howard argues that the endemic failures of government cannot be solved by merely cutting what government does or trimming processes. DOGE should focus on how government works. A new framework is needed to modernize American governance. 

Why were only 11 charging stations built in three years after receiving $7.5 billion in federal funding in 2021? How come the $42.5 billion allocated to expand broadband coverage to unserved areas hasn’t produced more services? The answer, Howard contends, is a fundamental flaw in the post-1960s governance model, where labyrinthine processes and thick rulebooks seek to replace human judgment. Common sense gets bogged down in the 150-million-word quicksand of federal law and regulation. Lawsuits proliferate in this environment, causing yearslong delays and ballooning costs. In the end, little gets built, despite ample resources. 

Laws don’t govern—people do. Public decision-making is necessarily political; it involves making tradeoffs with competing values. Thus, the solution to infrastructure and administrative paralysis is a legal framework that empowers designated officials to make value judgements, guided by broad principles in favor of the general welfare. They should be accountable politically for the wisdom of their choices, but judicially only when they violate the boundaries of their authority. 

History suggests Americans value practical results over rigid compliance. For example, after a section of I-95 collapsed outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro enjoyed widespread praise for rebuilding it in twelve days instead of twelve months. People didn’t mind that he bypassed virtually all normal bureaucratic rules to do so.  

To encourage more infrastructure leadership like this, Howard outlines three major changes necessary to restore the authority needed to achieve the results people want: a new legal framework that defines official authority and constrains judicial review to overseeing the scope of this authority; an independent national infrastructure board that can inspire trust in ongoing decisions; and a special nonpartisan recodification commission to design the details of new, simpler infrastructure codes.  

Click here to read the full report.