Sen. Lou DiPalma, D-Middletown, is chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight. Ohio State Rep. Lisa Sobecki, North Carolina State Rep. Shelly Willingham, and Pennsylvania State Rep. Mary Jo Daley contributed to this commentary.

    Everybody agrees we have to fix our crumbling infrastructure. The problem is nobody knows how to pay for it. As Congress takes up the issue, we are urging them to join the growing legion of supporters of a new National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) and pass the necessary legislation this spring.

    The need for such an institution was underscored yet again recently when the Society of Civil Engineers issued their quadrennial report card for the United States and graded the nation C-. The gap between what is currently funded and what is needed grew by another $259 billion. The country needs to spend nearly $5 trillion to bring our infrastructure to a state of good repair. Highlights of the report card include:

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