Words change frequently when Democrats are in charge. Liberals are now called progressives. Voter identification is called voter suppression. Mothers are now “birthing persons.”
One word that should be straightforward is infrastructure.
When people think of infrastructure, they think of roads, bridges, ports, airports, and waterways. In the 21st century, we add broadband to this list. That’s common sense. Not to Democrats.
Democrats in Washington have a new definition of infrastructure. It could be described as anything that Democrats want to do. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer have outlined a massive social welfare scheme they term “soft” or “human” infrastructure. Yet it’s the same old liberal agenda of cradle-to-grave dependence on government.
To Democrats, infrastructure includes everything from government-run healthcare to government-funded college. It includes amnesty for illegal immigrants, a far-left climate agenda, and forced unionization for workers regardless of their own views. Democrats include multiple refundable tax credits and advance payments — in other words, checks in the mail to anyone with an address who meets criteria such as having a child or holding down a job.
This new definition comes with the enormous price tag likely to exceed $5 trillion.
Democrats know they can’t get enough votes for their agenda if they describe it accurately. That’s why they call it infrastructure. That’s also why they’re moving ahead with the budget process, needing just 51 votes to pass the Senate.
To buy time, Democrats have agreed to a separate $1.2 trillion physical infrastructure bill being negotiated by a bipartisan group.
It won’t appease their liberal base, and with Schumer up for reelection in New York, Democrats made sure the president would veto any infrastructure bill that doesn’t arrive at his desk at the same time as their wish list.
In other words, for Democrats it’s not two bills; it’s one bill. That’s a bad deal for the public.
We already see inflation spiking as the first President Joe Biden bill, the $1.9 trillion so-called COVID-19 relief bill signed into law in March, hits a resurgent economy.
We’ve seen gas prices at the pump up 70 cents a gallon from the president’s inauguration. The consumer price index, which is a measure of inflation, was up 5.4% in June compared to last year. That’s the biggest jump in 13 years.
And as the government pays people more not to work than to work, we have a record number of unfilled jobs, with an unemployment rate that remains stubbornly high.
Not a single Republican will support this reckless tax-and-spending spree.
There are real problems facing the public. A government takeover is not the answer. People understand this. They know that nothing in life is free.
The Democrats’ new definition of infrastructure isn’t just incredibly expensive; it will do permanent damage.
The Green New Deal mandates and penalties Democrats are pushing will cost up to $65,000 per family each year. It’s a government takeover of the economy instead of allowing the private sector to innovate our way to a cleaner future.
The influx of illegal immigrants is already at 20-year highs. It will only get worse if amnesty is offered to millions.
One of the most egregious policies is forced unionization. Democrats want to destroy the right to work and make working people send part of their paychecks to union bosses whether they like it or not. All in the name of infrastructure.
Instead of piling on taxes and debt to fund this socialist freight train, Congress should work together. We already have an outline for a real infrastructure deal. Let’s invest in our roads and bridges.
The even split in the Senate is a mandate to move to the middle. The public did not vote for the far Left’s climate agenda, for radical changes on our borders, or to empower union bigwigs at the expense of their members. People didn’t vote to bankrupt our country. They didn’t vote to bankrupt our children’s future.
When the Democrats’ answer to every problem is a far-left policy fueled by enormous taxes and spending, you won’t find a single Republican in support. If we put people first, we can work together. That’s called governing, and the Democrats should try it.
John Barrasso is the senior U.S. senator from Wyoming. He leads the Republican Conference.
