Rethinking infrastructure to stop wasteful spending
As Congress and the White House go back and forth on the cost of an expensive partisan wish list packaged as an infrastructure proposal, Americans for Prosperity state directors and staff are working to steer their lawmakers away from this wasteful scheme and toward effective reforms.
In Florida, state director Skylar Zander writes that, rather than focusing on roads and bridges, the administration’s proposal “contains far more special interest payoffs, damaging tax increases, and corporate welfare than it does infrastructure dollars.”
The total package contains more than $4 trillion in spending; less than 5 percent of that would go to roads, bridges, and other transportation improvements. More than $1 trillion is simply corporate welfare and special interest payoffs.
And it would increase taxes by more than $2 trillion, at a time when people and small businesses all over Florida are beginning to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In sum,” writes Zander, “this bill fails on all counts.”
He calls on Representative Stephanie Murphy, who describes herself as a champion for fiscal discipline, to lead on a better approach. She also chairs the House Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderates who often call for fiscal responsibility and bipartisanship.
Instead of simply piling on more Washington waste, lawmakers could:
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Stop the diversion of gas taxes to non-road projects.
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Move decision-making authority on which priorities to pursue back to the local level.
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Lift onerous mandates that delay projects and drive up costs.
“There is clearly an opportunity for lawmakers to make significant strides to improve infrastructure, but it will take a different approach,” concludes Zander.
Read more about how in Florida Politics.
