By Bryan Williams
So what is a Republican not to like about infrastructure? You know, spending our tax-payer dollars on things that benefit all of us instead of, say, the harder-to-see societal gains that $2 billion a year in aid to Israel or the $6 million each for an anti-radiation guided missile attached to an Air Force bomber brings. As with previous fits and starts to infrastructure bills, this one seems no different. The center column tells of Trump’s own infrastructure plan that would have cost nearly as much as Biden’s. It has been touted for years now – at least the past three to four election cycles – that “infrastructure should be the one thing both parties can agree on.” And yet … here we are in 2021 still trying to get it done.
I see this latest effort as kind of ho-hum. This country has sustained three rounds of massively expensive COVID-19 stimulus bills, each in the trillions – with a t—of dollars, and the fiscal sky has not fallen. And yeah, I used to be right with (former) Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, and other fiscal hawks who said our children will end up paying for our profligacy. I remember hearing that in the ‘90s when I was a kid. Sure the national debt has gone up a lot, but the United States is still considered the most powerful nation in the world. We have the most advanced, most powerful military, and we just landed our fourth rover on another planet, this time with a miniature helicopter on board to fly around Mars. So yeah, the argument that all this debt will hamstring our society rings a little hollow.
The one thing that grinds my gears are the taxes Biden wants to raise on corporations after three short years of the new, low rate that has finally made America competitive with the rest of the world. Businesses like stability, right? Why raise their taxes when they are just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel after a year of pandemic shutdowns? Seems like a bad idea to raise taxes on the companies that will be hiring all of us back.
And why does it all have to be in one massive omnibus bill? Haven’t we all become tired of these huge tomes that become “law?” Remember the words, “We have to pass it to find out what’s in it [because it’s too big to read],” when the Affordable Care Act was being negotiated? Reminds me of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) from The Office. When asked if he ever read Lee Iacocca’s book, “Talking Straight,” he answered, “Read it? I own it! But no, I have not read it.” Let’s break this bill up into its constituent parts so the general public, as well as congressmembers and their staff have time to read all its components, and even understand it. One bill for roads, one bill for broadband, etc. This may slow down the process, but hey, we’ve waited this long, right?
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