Infrastructure Bills: Does Congress Have the Will to Address Human Needs?

For weeks, the U.S. Congress has been locked in a debate over two pieces of legislation, both described as infrastructure bills. While this might appear to be an argument about whether to fund bridges or child care or about how much to spend, it’s actually about something quite more fundamental. The outcome of this fight could determine what kind of country America will become.

Everyone has a stake in this battle. All of us have to speak up and insist that the rights of the most vulnerable are not negotiated away in a mad rush to “compromise.”

One proposal — the “American Jobs Plan” — would spend $1 trillion over 10 years on traditional infrastructure like roads, bridges, and tunnels. The other plan — the “American Family Plan” — has been described as dealing with “soft infrastructure.” It includes proposals for universal prekindergarten and community college, paid family and medical leave, child care and senior care support, an expansion of Medicare, and important steps to combat climate change. (The “American Family Plan” is also known as the “Build Back Better Bill.”)

As we go to press, passage of the “Build Back Better Bill” is being blocked by Republicans and a handful of Democrats in the U.S. Congress. While the monopoly media calls these Democrats “moderates,” there is nothing moderate about them. The same “moderates” who have repeatedly voted for gigantic, bloated U.S. military budgets complain about the $3.5 trillion price tag of the “Build Back Better Bill.” They deliberately ignore the fact that paying for the $3.5 trillion would be divided among 330 million people over 10 years, which would average out to about $3 per person per day. They also ignore that the $3.5 trillion amount itself is already a compromise, a scaled-down version of earlier proposals from progressive legislators. The current proposal is the minimum that progressives can accept.

The “Build Back Better Bill” calls for more than repairing roads and bridges. It would improve not only the country’s physical infrastructure, but its moral and political infrastructure as well. For instance, it includes measures to stop voter suppression; the bill’s advocates point out that this country clearly needs to protect the “infrastructure of democracy” itself.

We cannot allow an unholy alliance of Republicans and “moderate” Democrats working together in the interests of oil, gas, and other corporations and banks to gut this legislation. Tens of millions of people risked their safety during a pandemic to vote for change in 2020. Every opinion poll has shown that the American people support the broad measures in the “Build Back Better Bill.”

While politicians and pundits in Washington talk about compromise and moderation, the reality is that millions of people in this country cannot moderate their need for housing, health care, and a clean environment. A gigantic movement is underway to secure those essentials of life.

The people need the full $3.5 trillion bill to pass, at a minimum. If the Democrats don’t stand up and deliver a modicum of relief, they too will be failing the constituents they claim to represent. There are things the Democrats in Congress can do right now to begin to address the needs of the people – things like abolishing the filibuster and ensuring that bills like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 pass. If the Democrats in Congress can’t deliver on the promises they made during the campaign, then they will be showing the world that they too are not the party of the working people. After all, if you can’t deliver forpeople going through evictions during a pandemic then you’re nobetter than the Republicans. And it’s not just the “moderate” Democrats in Congress who need to be held accountable; it’s all of them.

If the comprehensive infrastructure bill is gutted or rejected, that development could dramatically change the dynamics of the 2022 mid-term elections. It could strengthen the fascist movement, and perhaps even result in the re-election of former President Donald Trump in 2024. That cannot be allowed to happen.

All Americans should speak up and demand that government defend democracy and do what is right by the American people. Support the efforts of the activists demanding climate justice, the community groups championing immigrant rights, and all those fighting for education, jobs, health care, and a real democracy where elected officials are not beholden to the corporations.

We must declare loudly and clearly that Congress needs to pass the full “Build Back Better Bill.” Securing passage of the full bill would be a way for the movement for change that is sweeping this country to show its strength by insisting that the government act to protect the people. That first step would then have to be followed by many other steps on the long road to wrest this country from the exploiters – but it would be a significant beginning. Nothing less than the future of this country is at stake.