2013: Sequester Hits Federal Transportation Budget With a $1.9 Billion Cut
February 2014: Obama's $300B infrastructure plan
July 2014: President Obama to unveil infrastructure funding initiative
"Both Parties?" Oh My God!
David Brooks is the spokesman for "center-right" thinking in the U.S. Among other perches, Brooks has a column in the New York Times and is a regular Friday talking head on the PBS Newshour. David Brooks writes a column on the need for infrastructure spending and says "both parties."
Oh my God! Is it possible that Brooks is unaware of the conservative priority to turn the public against government? Is it possible that Brooks is not aware that the conservative movement opposes government spending on infrastructure? Is it possible that Brooks is not aware that the Republicans have opposed and (when able to) obstructed every single effort to restore spending for maintenance and modernization of the country's infrastructure since President Obama took office?
Michael Grunwald sums up the problem in, "The Huge Obama Transportation Bill You Heard Nothing About":
"It reflects the unspoken recognition that no matter how much Republicans say they care about infrastructure, they're not going to accept any infrastructure proposals that come from President Barack Obama. They opposed his $50 billion 'roads, rails and runways' proposal in 2010, and then again when it was expanded and incorporated into his American Jobs Act in 2011. They've blocked Obama's plans for an infrastructure bank and a national high-speed rail network. They've also blocked Obama's proposals for corporate tax reform, which is relevant, because the new GROW AMERICA Act [Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America] depends on tax reform for much of its financing."
Just for some perspective, conservative thinking on infrastructure is that investing in infrastructure is "government spending" on projects that benefit "big labor."
Heritage: "President Obama's Infrastructure Plan Is More Tax-and-Spend Liberalism": "...when the government taxes businesses in order to spend more money, it is just taking money out of the productive economy."
Michelle Malkin: "Obama's $50 Billion Union Infrastructure Boondoggle":
"President Obama calls his latest attempt to revive the economy a 'Plan to Renew and Expand America's Roads, Railways and Runways.' I'm calling it 'The Mother of all Big Dig Boondoggles.' Like the infamous 'Big Dig' highway spending project in Boston, this latest White House infrastructure spending binge guarantees only two results: Taxpayers lose; unions win."
Others:
-- "Infrastructure bank is just another stimulus boondoggle":
"It is an article of faith among liberals that one of the best ways the federal government can reduce unemployment is to borrow billions of dollars and spend it on infrastructure projects.
For example, at a recent press conference President Obama made his case for creating an 'infrastructure bank' that 'could put construction workers to work right now, rebuilding our roads and our bridges and our vital infrastructure all across the country.'"
-- "White House back to peddling economic stimulus-via-infrastructure spending and new taxes"
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