If You Build it, Will They Come? – “The Sunday Political Brunch” -- April 25, 2021

If You Build it, Will They Come? – “The Sunday Political Brunch” -- April 25, 2021

Yes, this week’s topic and questions are based on the legendary baseball film, “Field of Dreams.” Actor James Earl Jones said repeatedly, “If you build it, they will come!” He was talking about building a baseball stadium in an Iowa cornfield. I thought about that a lot this past week as President Biden offered a major infrastructure plan, and then Senate Republican offered a more slimmed-down alternative. Will they come? “Let’s “brunch” on that this week.

 

“Biden Channels FDR” – The president’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan may be one of the most ambitious public works projects since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, which included the CCC and WPA, which built a lot of stuff. “These are investments we have to make,” Biden said of his plan. “We can afford to make them. To put it another way — we can’t afford not to.” Many presidents (and governors) have employed big infrastructure spending because, a) needed public works projects get done, and b) it usually stimulates the economy by creating jobs and construction spending that ripples throughout the economy.

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“What’s in the Biden Plan?” – The Biden plan would spend $115 billion dollars on roads and bridges; it pledges to spend $165 billion on public transit and rail, plus airports; and it would spend $100 billion on broadband expansion. But then it would go well beyond that. The president includes $400 billion for caregivers of the elderly and disabled; $300 billion for research and development and manufacturing; and, $40 billion for public housing. Many of these items are not considered traditional infrastructure.  

 

“What’s in the GOP Senate Plan?” – The Senate Republican plan is straightforward with the focus mostly on transportation. There is $299 billion for roads, bridges, and highways; there is $81 billion for public transit and rail; and there is $44 billion for airports. The bill also has $65 billion for broadband expansion, on the theory that the internet highway is now as important as the interstate highway for commerce. Then there is $35 billion for clean drinking water and wastewater projects. Again, traditional infrastructure.

 

“Random Rand Paul” – Perhaps no one else in Congress has expressed deeper concerns about what we are doing to our national debt than Sen. Rand Paul (R) Kentucky, whom I had the chance to interview this week. Paul is concerned President Biden’s $2.3 billion dollar infrastructure plan goes beyond common sense fiscal policy. “You have people calling reparations infrastructure. You have people calling childcare infrastructure. You have people calling Medicare For All, infrastructure. So, this really gets away from roads and bridges, which most people think roads and bridges are really infrastructure,” said Senator Paul.

 

“Capito Connects” – We often talk in this column about the political clout of Senator Joe Manchin (D) West Virginia, who is now the most critical swing vote in the 50-50 U.S. Senate. But who was there on Thursday running the roll out of the Republican alternative plan? It was none other than Manchin’s counterpart, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R) West Virginia. It was powerful because the economic advancement of one of the nation’s most rural and impoverished states rests in its two Senate powerbrokers. It will be fascinating to watch. It was the nation’s longest-serving U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd (53 years), who basically controlled federal spending for decades. We are revisiting history!

 

“King Manchin” – Speaking of Senator Manchin, he has two concerns about the Biden Bill, which could prompt him to be the killer “no” vote. First, the Biden plan raises the net corporate income tax from 21 to 28 percent. Manchin wants a compromise at 25 percent or else he’s out. Secondly, Manchin wants the infrastructure bill to be strictly about infrastructure, meaning roads, highways, bridges, and broadband, with no social program spending. Manchin told me, "I want to make sure we get a good infrastructure bill, and I mean infrastructure. We can do caretaking economy. We can do research and development and we can do all the manufacturing. We can do all that in separate pieces of legislation."

 

“Timing is Everything” – Infrastructure plans are not a magic bullet for politicians, and they don’t always work. Timing matters. On December 18, 1991 President George H.W. Buch signed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, known as ISTEA (pronounced Ice Tea, one of my favorite Washington, DC acronyms). In 1990, the United States dipped briefly into a mild recession, that ended six months later, in March 1991. The problem here is that many public works jobs must be bid out which can take time. Also, the economic impact of new jobs and the ripple effect of economic stimulus takes time to measure. My point is that by November 1992, there was no empirical data to show the political benefit to President Bush, and he was defeated for reelection. The benefits were finally seen after President Clinton took office.

 

What road, bridge, or highway project do you want to see fixed near you? Tell us in our nation of patched potholes, by adding a comment below.

 

Mark Curtis, Ed.D., is Chief Political Reporter for the seven Nexstar Media TV stations serving West Virginia, its five neighboring states and the entire Washington, DC media market. He is a MINDSETTER™ contributing political writer for www.GoLocalProv.com and all of its affiliates.