Plan massive because that’s what’s needed
The nation is collapsing, and despite all our social ills, we do not mean morally.
No, this is a literal collapse: aging buildings, decaying bridges, crumbling streets.
In the face of multiple problems, infrastructure has taken a backseat on past presidential agendas. No more.
President Joe Biden has unveiled an ambitious infrastructure proposal — $2 trillion that would fold jobs and green energy programs into its mammoth embrace.
“This is not a plan that tinkers around the edges,” Biden said Tuesday afternoon in Pittsburgh. “It is a once-in-a-generation investment in America, unlike anything we’ve done since we built the interstate highway system and the space race” in the 1950s and ’60s.
The plan would have been a no-brainer four years ago, when former President Donald Trump abandoned infrastructure to pursue more controversial projects like the border wall. Now, it faces fierce Republican opposition despite obvious needs.
This is an almost wildly ambitious plan, but the ambition of one political party is the fiscal insanity of another. Republicans are condemning the proposal as a Democratic wish list, bloated by side projects that have nothing to do with infrastructure. What do climate change, workforce innovation and broadband internet, GOP officials ask, have to do with roads and bridges?
“I’m going to fight them every step of the way, because I think this is the wrong prescription for America,” Sen. Mitch Mcconnell said at a news conference in Kentucky.
The Biden administration argues these strands form a connective tissue that turns the disparate parts into a coherent whole. We saw this play out during the arctic blast in the Lone Star State. Ignoring the role of climate change, experts say, led to a breakdown in the electrical grid, which proved catastrophic for millions of Texans.
The U.S. ranks 13th in the world in overall infrastructure, according to a World Economic Forum report in 2019.
What irks Republicans most is not just the cost of the proposal, but the source of the funding. The president proposes an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent. This is anathema for Republicans, but let’s remember, they dropped their aversion to the budget deficit when it came to lowering taxes in 2017.
It remains unclear how the proposal would affect communities like San Antonio, but it would be sure to offset the deficiencies exposed by the winter storm. The plan would also help rebuild state ports and highways, while also expanding broadband into rural areas of the state where high-speed internet is limited. Lack of computer access negated virtual teaching efforts during the pandemic. Biden promised to put “hundreds of thousands” of people to work in Texas. These workers would rebuild a “modern, resilient and fully clean grid,” while capping “hundreds of thousands” of dry oil and gas wells. All these target areas are crucial in a state where the population is growing at a rate of 1,000 per day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. “As we saw in Texas and elsewhere, our electric power grids are vulnerable to storms, catastrophic failures and security lapses to tragic results,” Biden said.
As debate progresses, Biden may have to recognize the reality that confronts every president: Ambitious plans give way to practicality. Democrats won the Senate and the White House, but the GOP achieved gains in the House. The political dynamic may force Biden to pull back on some of his goals, as he has done before, including a proposal to increase the minimum wage.
This is a mammoth bill, and it should attract the support of most Americans. If some specific target areas fall by the wayside, there will be other opportunities, other efforts. This is no time to sacrifice the whole for the parts.