Congress is expected to take action on President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan any day now, but Republicans are hesitant to endorse the expensive plan, which is filled with Democrat agenda goals and progressive talking points.
Biden originally said last week he would not sign the infrastructure plan that garnered GOP support unless the legislative body also passed a reconciliation bill littered with leftist agenda items. When Republicans promised to jeopardize Biden’s plan by pulling out of the “bipartisan” part of the deal in response, Biden walked back his statement and claimed that potentially vetoing any legislation that didn’t include sneaky provisions for his families plan “was certainly not my intent.”
“The bottom line is this: I gave my word to support the Infrastructure Plan, and that’s what I intend to do. I intend to pursue the passage of that plan, which Democrats and Republicans agreed to on Thursday, with vigor,” the president said in a statement.
Here are the top 10 worst things about Biden’s expensive and partisan infrastructure plan that House Democrats are hoping to implement.
1. It Fuels Inflation
In addition to Biden’s abrupt flip-flop and threat to veto the “bipartisan” wing of the legislation unless he also gets a version of the progressive bill, the GOP is also worried about the price tag that comes with the Democrats’ partisan wheeling and dealing.
The House transportation bill as it stands now heavily relies on deficit spending, which threatens to fuel the already concerning inflation occurring under the Democrat administration. Consumer prices such as gas and food continue to climb at their fastest annual rate since 2008 as inflation skyrockets to the highest it’s been in over a decade, but the Democrats want to move forward with the expensive plan.
2. It Overdrafts America’s Bank Account
By reauthorizing $547.9 billion worth of spending, the bill will shower funds on transportation programs that were previously allocated more than $305 billion from the Obama administration to be used through 2020 — and just months after the Democrats passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 spending bill.
Approximately $148 billion of this spending will be funneled from the General Fund, but other funds such as the Highway Account will struggle to fund fixing the nation’s road and bridge problems while teetering on the edge of going broke within just a few years.
3. It Creates a New Green New Deal
While the progressive sect of the Democrat Party continues to demand extra action from Biden to address what they consider a looming “climate change crisis,” the House bill is already stretching $1 of every $2 laid out in the infrastructure plan to create a “clean energy future” that looks eerily similar to some of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” mandates.
“It would make the largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history, modernizing our power grid to accelerate the build-out of zero-carbon, renewable energy. It would replace thousands of gas-guzzling buses with clean, electric ones — including 35,000 electric school buses. It would cap abandoned wells leaking methane gas,” Biden bragged in an op-ed published on Monday.
The House legislation, however, makes room for more than 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations to put towards Biden’s wish that “rural and disadvantaged communities” could “get passenger vehicles off the road and reduce fossil fuel consumption.”
Jen Psaki: 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations are needed for "rural and disadvantaged communities." pic.twitter.com/qgH3CdLpVr
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 28, 2021
These “ambitious climate goals,” Biden clearly stated, are not the end but merely the beginning of his initiatives to take down the fossil fuel industry, as he promised on the campaign trail.
4. It Funds Communists with Taxpayer Dollars
By attempting to create “change” to combat “climate change” through this legislation and the new $4 billion electric vehicle allocation, the Democrats are effectively handing taxpayer dollars to communist China, the world’s largest climate offender, to achieve partisan goals.
China, which often uses child and slave labor, controls much of the electric vehicle supply chain, which the United States would rely on for parts of this infrastructure plan. When the GOP tried to rein in the communist government’s role in the infrastructure execution, their proposal to ensure no tax dollars would support forced labor was shot down by Democrats, as has occurred in the past.
5. It Claims Art Is Infrastructure
This piece of legislation, much like the American Rescue Plan, also goes to great lengths to throw money at the art industry by lifting a bipartisan ban on funneling funds designated for transit to “non-functional” landscaping. Biden and the Democrats’ willingness to compromise practical projects that address true infrastructure problems in the U.S. prompted a wave of mocking on Twitter that could taint the administration’s chances of keeping GOP support for the “essential” bill.
Abortion is infrastructure.
Gun control is infrastructure.
Forced unionization is infrastructure.
Whatever the Left wants is infrastructure.
You know what’s not? Roads & bridges.
ONLY 5% OF BIDEN’s “INFRASTRUCTURE” BILL IS ROADS & BRIDGES. 🤡🤡 https://t.co/jgP3ZEwGCy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 7, 2021
6. It Bans States from Building New Roads
Biden claims his plan is meant to reinforce and fix infrastructure to help Americans, but as the House legislation stands now, states will be stripped of their ability to prioritize building new roads or bridges that are most acutely needed until they exclusively take on the state of good repair projects.
Not only does this limit their powers, but it also prevents states from truly addressing the essential infrastructure needs in their communities until they bow to the will of the federal government.
7. It Forces Rural Americans to Pay in But Doesn’t Do Much for Them
White House press secretary Jen Psaki bragged on Monday that Biden’s plan will deliver help and support to “rural and disadvantaged” communities, but the meat of the House infrastructure legislation is dedicated to fixing urban centers, which largely vote Democrat.
Not only is the legislation dedicated to ridding Americans of their reliance on fossil fuels, an industry rural communities across America fuel and work in, but it also shovels billions of dollars into transit and passenger rail projects while potentially leaving essential road and bridge funds emptied by the time the bill expires.
8. It Funnels Money to Pelosi’s ‘Train to Nowhere’ and Other Useless Projects
This House legislation, if passed, will ensure that American tax dollars will fund California’s failed High-Speed Rail project, which is plagued with delays and ballooning costs. What started as a $33 billion project is now a $100 billion project with no end in sight.
It will also increase funding to passenger rail programs by 850 percent while ignoring how the new policies will keep Amtrak from being profitable.
9. It Ensures Tax Dollars Are Wasted on Red Tape
While up to $164 billion of the infrastructure plan is allocated to navigating projects afflicted with government red tape, the legislation does not include bipartisan project streamlining provisions aimed at reducing wasted tax dollars.
Modern infrastructure projects in the United States take exceptionally long to complete compared to those in other nations, and this bill only promises lengthier and more expensive repair and growth.
10. It Adds More Bureaucracy to a Notoriously Slow System
Lastly, the House legislation simply adds layers of bureaucracy to the already bogged-down federal system. By creating more than 40 new programs and “eligibilities” for existing ones, Democrats are ensuring the money allocated in the pricey infrastructure bill will continue to fund progressive priorities under the guise of bipartisanship.
This article has been updated since publication.