Hurrah! It’s finally “infrastructure week” in Washington.
In his first 100 days as President,
Joe Biden has delivered a plan that his predecessor just kept teasing us with
for four years: a complete
rehabilitation and expansion of the nation’s infrastructure.
Of course, Biden’s “American
Jobs Act” goes way beyond just rebuilding roads, bridges and rails. It also covers our water supply, electrical
grid, internet, sea and airports, our housing stock and our very jobs.
It’s too much and way too expensive
($2+ trillion) for conservatives but hardly enough for progressives. That sounds great to me. With plenty for
everyone to hate there’s lots of negotiating room on all sides in the months
ahead.
Biden is right to think big. After decades of underinvestment in the
‘bones’ of our economy, it’s time to do more than catch up but to leapfrog
ahead. Remember it was Republican
presidents who built the interstate highway system (Eisenhower) and the Panama
Canal (Teddy Roosevelt) using public money.
Why did they have a long-range vision but today’s Republicans are so
myopic?
Because this time it’s the
corporations who’ll be asked to pay up by raising
corporate taxes from 21% to 28%.
That’s still less than the 35% tax rate in effect before Trump’s 2017
tax cuts. Remember them?… the
corporate welfare program that was supposed
to create jobs but ended up just making business fat-cats plumper thanks to
corporate stock buybacks.
Why not ask business to pay its
fair share? How could 55 of the nation’s
top businesses pay zero
taxes last year despite billions in profits?
Who benefits from a better
infrastructure more than business?
Better roads, safer bridges, dependable electricity, smooth running
airports, clean water and a well trained workforce are the things that will
make business thrive.
Right now, when it comes to
infrastructure, we’re living in a third world country.
If China can build the largest high
speed rail system in the world in just 15 years, why do we make Amtrak to barely
limp along on table scraps just to fund its operating costs?
If Germany can build a green energy
network providing almost half of the nation’s electric needs, why does Texas go
dark in a winter cold spell… or Connecticut when high winds take out our
utilities’ fragile networks?
Anyone who drives on potholed I-95
or endures a teeth-chattering ride on Metro-North knows we can do better. Do we need a bullet
train to Ronkonkoma? Maybe not. But fixing our existing transportation
network would be an easy start.
And that’s what the Biden team is
counting on: public
pressure for a “Big Fix” to persuade Republican lawmakers to fund the
“shovel ready” if not also the “shovel worthy”.
Shepherding this mammoth package of
legislation through Congress won’t be easy.
Speaker Pelosi herself thinks it won’t emerge from the House until July
and then the Senate negotiations begin.
Oh, there will be plenty of
horse-trading and the final package will little resemble what’s been initially
proposed, burdened down by special interest as lobbyists earn their keep in DC.
What do you think are the most
important projects to prioritize? Join
the discussion on CTInsiders
Facebook page or follow the #GettingThereCT hashtag on Twitter to add your thoughts and
I’ll share them in my next column.
Posted with permission of Hearst
CT Media.
