This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

A funny thing happened on the way to passage of the major infrastructure legislation in Congress.

Some members began to realize how much good stuff would result from the federal investment.  Need, not just cost.

So, it was not just a piece of legislation that cost $1.2 trillion.  It was money to fund needed highway, bridge, rail and Internet projects around the country – projects that have languished for years.

Nowhere was this put better than in blog written by a former colleague of mine, Joel Rubin, who runs my old firm’s Washington, D.C. office, now called CFM Advocates.

“News coverage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act centered on how much it will cost,” he wrote.  “But, in its advocacy for local governments, port districts and transit agencies, CFM focused on how much the investment is needed.

“We don’t advocate in terms of big, round numbers.  Our job on behalf of clients (both those based in Oregon and in Washington) was to help lawmakers see how big the need is and how investments would be made in the communities they represent in Congress.”

The results are impressive – Oregon will receive $3.4 billion and Washington $8.6 billion in formula funds for highways, bridges, broadband, EV charging stations, and more.  Those totals will increase as state and local governments successfully compete for discretionary funds.

“The legislation is like a layered cake, consisting of a stack of different federal programs with different objectives,” Rubin explains. “This is a transformational investment that will help states and local communities upgrade their infrastructure, create good-paying jobs and maintain competitiveness.

“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is not legislation that can be summarized in a paragraph or two because the problems it addresses are complex and variable across the nation.  We prepare the blogs to inform our clients, but also to help the general public see how much thought and consideration by congressional leaders went into the many provisions in the legislation.”

The bill’s provisions and bottom line were hammered out in the Senate last summer when it passed with a bi-partisan 69-30 vote.  Its fate in the House was tied to the even larger Build Back Better initiative rendered in a budget reconciliation resolution, which led to delays and legislative maneuvering.

“The debates and delays generated a rollercoaster of emotions, but final passage should put the doubts and doomsday predictions in the rear-view mirror,” Rubin continued.  “The challenge now, as it should be, is to put the investments to work as quickly and as wisely as possible.  Our role as advocates will now shift to advising our municipal clients how to take advantage of the enriched programs that Congress authorized.”

So, is my purpose to laud Joel and his D.C. colleagues?  Well, yes, but the point is less that than to summarize the reality of the new investments. 

Beyond the federal machinations, another of my former colleagues, Dale Penn, who run’s CFM’s state lobbying operation, wrote about a special infrastructure challenge for Oregon, which no doubt is mimicked in all other states.

It is this:  Oregon Must Develop a Plan to Spend Its Broadband Funding

Significant money will pour into Oregon to expand broadband service in underserved areas, but government watchers should not expect instant connections.  

That’s because it turns out that Business Oregon, the state agency in charge of Internet expansion, doesn’t yet have a plan on how to spend the money.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains $100 million for broadband expansion in Oregon.  Something called the “American Rescue Plan” adopted earlier this year provided another $120 million for broadband expansion.  

Both federal bills require Oregon to apply by December 27 for formula fund allocations.

Business Oregon, Penn wrote in one of his blogs, says the cost to ensure all Oregonians are connected could range up to $1.32 billion.  

But, still, a plan must be developed to spend the money.

In a way, the numbers do tell a tale. 

But Rubin and Penn are exactly on target when they contend that most of the attention should now go to two places – (a) verifying the need for infrastructure investments, and (b) assuring that the money is spent wisely. And not – remember this? – like an earlier debacle in the State of Alaska whi