The Biden infrastructure plan definitely has a lot in it. Some people argue that infrastructure should only be about roads, bridges and ports. Such a narrow definition of infrastructure was appropriate back in the 1950s. Eighty years later, America’s modern infrastructure is best understood as anything that enables America and Americans to thrive.
Back in the ‘30s, politicians argued that electricity for all homes was “a bridge too far,” saying there was no need for spending money on the Tennessee Valley Authority. Today citizens in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia know how important reliable electricity truly is.
Plans to fix America’s crumbling infrastructure include broadband, water systems, electric grids, elder care and child care, schools and hospitals, and financing scientific discoveries that will solve our most vexing problems. People in Flint, MI, Atlanta and Jackson, MS know only too well how much suffering is caused by outdated, failing water and sewer systems. Folks in Texas and California can vouch that a reliable electric grid is literally a life and death issue.
America doesn’t need our congressional representatives on both sides of the aisle arguing that the Biden plan is too broad or not big enough. They need to do the job the majority of Americans want them to do. There is ample room for compromise that will give us all an America that will support a thriving economy. We citizens must remind Congress they’ve ignored infrastructure for so long that now America’s dominance on the world stage is in serious jeopardy. We must insist our elected officials stop fighting and show some real bipartisan leadership. They should strongly support a plan that will finally ensure the progress we need to move America forward as a nation.
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