Biden’s $2 trillion “infrastructure” proposal includes things like “care for elderly and disabled people.” Republicans would limit it to roads and bridges, airports, ports, broadband, etc. costing a fourth of that. Here’s their complete list:
- $299 billion for roads and bridges
- $65 billion for broadband
- $61 billion for public transit
- $44 billion for airports
- $35 billion for drinking water and waste water systems
- $20 billion for railways
- $17 billion for ports and inland waterways
- $14 billion for water storage
- $13 billion for safety measures
Now Biden’s plan does look a bit festooned with Christmas ornaments that nobody else would call “infrastructure,” and some of them may be there as bargaining chips, although I doubt it as Democrats seem inclined to shove their entire wishlist down Republicans’ throats, after years of Republicans doing the same to them. In this country, negotiation and compromise is so far in the past it has almost faded from living memory. (It’s even beyond that; we’re now at a point where Republicans want to prevent Democrats from voting and won’t accept election results.)
But there’s more going on here than squabbling over priorities, or Republicans being cheapskates with public money (except when they want to blow a couple trillion on an unnecessary war, e.g., Iraq), or (predictably) heavily favoring cars and roads over mass transportation.
By way of introduction, Sen. Shelley Capito (R-MS) described the GOP counteroffer as “an effort to start a conversation toward a compromise with Democrats. She said that ‘we agree that these bills are necessary,’ and she hopes committees of jurisdiction in the Senate ‘should be the ones that force the compromise. I think that we see this as an offer that is on the table and deserves a response,’ she said.”
Now for the nitty-gritty: “Capito said the investments would be fully funded, potentially through policies including user fees on electric vehicles and repurposing of state and local relief passed as part of coronavirus aid bills. She said the GOP aims to maintain tax cuts passed in 2017,” according to CNN (emphasis added).
Republicans want two things here: Keep Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, and hijack (their term is “repurpose”) the Covid-19 relief funds they opposed all along and divert them to something they want (as Trump when he spent money Congress intended for military family housing on his border wall). Maybe those are bargaining chips, but I doubt it; this looks more like a ransom demand. Functionally, they’re a pair of poison pills that will doom the GOP counterproposal out of the gate.
Infrastructure enables a thriving economy, and more than pays for itself. While Biden, on one hand, wants other stuff too, it appears that Republicans, on the other hand, are prepared to let bridges fall down and do to rural internet access what they did to mail delivery before the election if they don’t get their way.
Negotiation? Compromise? Ha, good luck with that.
Read story here.
Photo: The Ship Canal Bridge carrying I-5 through downtown Seattle needs repairs
