Last fall, Congress approved a huge infrastructure spending bill. Despite being loaded with wins for left-wing interests groups and adding to the spending spree which has fueled catastrophic inflation, it was not passed. 19 Republican senatorsTo give it more votes, I crossed it over.
Predictably, the Biden government has used the bill for ideological and political gain.
This is another reason why self-described conservatives should be opposed to legislation giving Washington more control over what happens across the 50 states.
It didn’t take long for the administration to push the highway bill even further to the left. The Federal Highway Administration issued a memo to states requesting strong-arming regarding highway spending just weeks after President Joe Biden signed it into law.
The attempted power grab by Secretary for Transportation Pete Buttigieg, was exposed by Republican governors senators. Buttigieg tried to spin the memo as mere “guidance,” even though it clearly stated which highway projects the Biden administration would prioritize, a practice that was not authorized by the legislation.
In April, the Department of Transportation joined other federal agencies in putting forward an “equity action plan” that includes de facto racial quotas for federal contractors and will seek to empower left-wing activists in areas such as regional planning and environmental review.
While this diversity-obsessed nonsense avoids having hard rules or metrics that would likely lead to legal action, it’s yet another reason to avoid routing taxpayer dollars through Washington bureaucracies.
Another aspect of the infrastructure bill was $7.5 billion for “local and regional project assistance” grants. These grants, which are completely controlled by the federal Department of Transportation, are used to fund most infrastructure projects that are funded by the bill.
Another predictable development is that the Biden administration has chosen to prioritizeInstead of the roads and bridges that the vast majority Americans depend on every day, these grants will be used to fund projects for mass transit and bicycles.
That’s on top of programs and carve-outsThey already provide these liberal priorities an outsized portion of federal funding.
There’s also a political dynamic at work. The Department of Transportation announces grant recipients. led with projects in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.
As if that weren’t blatant enough, Buttigieg’s official eventArizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly was there to celebrate the award of grants. Kelly is currently up for reelection.
Buttigieg ran for president in 2020. often referencedBiden, as the top Democratic contender, used infrastructure announcements to barnstorm America.
In addition to the Arizona event the transportation chief has made an official appearance in Alabama, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin, and even GermanyJust since April
It is important to remember that Buttigieg claims it’s very important to reduce carbon emissions in transportation. It seems that middle-class Americans must pay through the nose to purchase transportation carbon emissions. electric vehiclesHe doesn’t want to limit his extensive travels.
Politicizing infrastructure is only the latest in a long list of ways that the left has taken advantage opportunities when Republicans expand the federal government.
The art of playing the long game has been mastered by the left. The progressive movement has been relentlessly seeking to consolidate power and control in Washington for more than 100 years. Every time, compromises made to satisfy short-term political considerations by the center-right have resulted permanent new programs for the left and bureaucracies to be used.
Some Republicans were willing to give win after win to the left in infrastructure negotiations for the sake of getting more “free” highway money for their states.
Others have offered to accept the return of pork-earmarks or to trade modest increases for defense spending in exchange to huge increases for nondefense spending, as part of the annual appropriations process.
The nation is suffering from inflation fuelled by federal spending, and is quickly heading towards bankruptcy.
It is imperative that conservatives, both inside and outside the Capitol, demand an end to the seemingly endless federal spending and the unchecked increase in the number bureaucrats. Then, legislators need to get to work. draining the swamp.
It is the only way to ensure our hard-earned freedom and prosperity in the future.
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