Trump’s Plan for America’s Infrastructure Falls Short
- yew4439
- Dec. 29, 2016
As FOX News reports , America’s infrastructure is crumbling. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, a nonpartisan panel of experts, America needs $3.6 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2020. The society’s grade for America’s infrastructure is a D+.
Of course, Americans don’t need experts to tell them that our nation’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair. Everyday we drive on rusty bridges and bumpy roads. We drink bottled water because our pipes are leaking lead. We sit in gridlock because we have too many vehicles on the road and too few public transportation services.
We can do better.
President-elect Donald Trump recognizes that infrastructure is critical to American business. Well-maintained roads, airports, and waterways keep our economy moving, and rebuilding our infrastructure will put millions of Americans back to work. We’re fortunate to have a president-elect who understands the problem. What we need now is a plan.
Trump wants $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending, but the Republican-controlled Congress wants to know where he’s going to find the money for it. Because the Republican Congress is forcing Trump’s hand , all the new administration has been able to promise is tax breaks for toll roads.
Trump knows new toll roads aren’t enough. As Bernie Sanders has pointed out , the tax-breaks-only version of the infrastructure plan is a corporate giveaway — welfare for the same corporations that stash their profits overseas and lay off American workers, the same corporations Trump has promised to rein in.
New toll roads might make some rich corporations even richer, but those corporations won’t replace dangerous lead pipes or clean up hazardous waste. Those types of critical, time-sensitive projects aren’t attractive to corporate bidders because they aren’t profitable. Corporations are happy to build roads and bridges if they can charge a toll after, but there’s no toll to charge a city with safe water pipes or a neighborhood no longer living next to a Superfund site. If corporations can’t find a way to make a profit, they simply won’t help.
As our new president looks to fund infrastructure without a corporate giveaway, he should consider the Rebuild America Act . It would both fund $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending and pay for itself by closing tax loopholes on the corporations that are piling their money up in offshore tax havens.
It’s a win-win.