Democrats are pushing the limits of what can be defined as ‘infrastructure’ because they aim to sell President Biden’s $ 2 billion plus spending plan to the American people in the face of harsh GOP criticism.
“Paid leave is infrastructure. Child care is infrastructure. Care is infrastructure,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, DN.Y., tweeted Wednesday.
“I think we really need to update what we mean by infrastructure for the 21st century,” Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News Sunday.
The message comes after Republicans indicated their strong opposition to Biden’s ‘American Jobs Plan’ last week. They said that very little of what is included in the White House’s proposal is actually spent on roads, bridges, ports and other things that are traditionally defined as infrastructure.
EXPENDITURE PLAN OF $ 2 T, PROMOTED AS INFRASTRUCTURE BILL, BEST LESS THAN HALF IN INFRASTRUCTURE
“This plan is not about rebuilding America’s backbone. Less than 6% of this massive proposal goes to roads and bridges,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “It will spend more money on electric cars than on America’s roads, bridges, ports, airports and waterways combined.”
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, added: “The core of the president’s plan requires a $ 620 billion investment in transportation infrastructure. However, the total rises to $ 3 billion with the inclusion of these broad policy priorities that are far from what we ever defined as infrastructure. ‘
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines infrastructure as the following: “the system of public works of a country, state or region … also: the resources (such as staff, buildings or equipment) needed for an activity.”
An analysis by Fox News, which counted the investments broadly that fits the definition, found that just under $ 750 billion of Biden’s plan consists of infrastructure. This is less than 40%.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, speaks at a press conference in the White House on Friday, January 22, 2021 in Washington. Deese argued on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that the meaning of the word infrastructure needs to be updated. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
The score includes building and repairing facilities and systems used by the general public, including pipes, schools, broadband, Amtrak, investments in resilience in infrastructure and more.
Other items that do not include infrastructure in the plan are $ 213 billion targeted at sustainability and public housing; $ 174 on electric vehicles; $ 400 billion in home care for the elderly and disabled; $ 50 billion in ‘research infrastructure’ at the National Science Foundation, and much more.
COMMANDED PROMISE TO GET REDUCED $ 2T EDITION BILL, BACK TO GOP CRITICISM: ‘I AM GOING AS HARD AS I CAN SEND’
The press secretary of Biden and the White House, Jen Psaki, were each urged to determine the definition of infrastructure. Biden himself avoided mentioning many of the more controversial items in the plan.
‘The fact is that if you’re in a situation where you can not turn on the water fountain at school, and you have to worry about drinking polluted water that affects your health, and that all the pipes have to be replaced by infrastructure, Biden said Monday. “When I talk about getting the asbestos out of schools, it’s infrastructure. When I talk about building high-speed, it’s infrastructure.”
Psaki also mentioned things like schools and pipes that are infrastructure, but further argued a case why money for home care is infrastructure.
“It’s rebuilding schools. It’s rebuilding our country’s waterways. It ensures we can rebuild pipes so we don’t have children with lead in their drinking water,” she said. “This is the rebuilding of the backbone and the infrastructure of our workforce, because there are 2 million women who are outside the workforce, who will hopefully, if we can help them with the care, be able to rejoin.”
President Joe Biden delivers a speech on infrastructure spending at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center, Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
Deese made a similar case over the weekend when Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace pushed him on the definition of the White House’s infrastructure, which allegedly ‘stretches the word beyond all meaning’.
“If you look at the number of housing units, it’s the construction, to build houses across the country to ensure that there are more affordable housing units where people have access to jobs and economic opportunities,” Deese said.
MCCONNELL SLAMS BIDEN’S ‘TROJAN HORSE’ INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN, SAY THIS IS ‘MORE MONEY MONEY’
He also stated that ‘the infrastructure of our care economy is something to take very seriously’ because ‘parents who care for a parent or an adult child with disabilities, they know that if you do not have an infrastructure of take care to support your loved ones, you can not work effectively, you can not deal effectively in the 21st century economy. ‘
Biden is expected to continue pleading for a broad definition of infrastructure on Wednesday afternoon. PBS reports that White House officials say Biden will “talk about what infrastructure means in the 21st century and why it goes far beyond just roads and bridges.”
Other Democrats also joined in, arguing that it was wrong to exclude things like home care and R&D from the definition of infrastructure.
“Roads and bridges are built mainly by men. Care work is done mainly by women,” said representative Jamaal Bowman, DN.Y. “Those who say the former is infrastructure, while the latter are not, are telling themselves.”
Pete Buttigieg, transport secretary, added: ‘There was a time when railways were not considered’ infrastructure ‘. Then we built them. Now is the time to build the 21st century economy that Americans need. ‘
“It’s important that we upgrade our definition of infrastructure, one that meets the needs of a 21st century economy,” Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Board of Economic Advisors, said on CBS ‘Face the Nation. “It is therefore very important to encourage electric vehicles because we need to address climate change.”
Republicans mocked Democrats on Wednesday, and especially Gillibrand, over their growing definition of ‘infrastructure’.
“We’re all infrastructure now,” reads the subject line of an email from McConnell’s office.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Ice coffee is an infrastructure for gay rights,” tweeted legal commentator Brad Polumbo. “Fund it universally for all gays or if you oppose infrastructure.”
“Gas lighting is infrastructure,” the Republican Study Committee tweeted.
Meanwhile, Liberal commentator Keith Olberman has said he supports many of the non-infrastructure items in Biden’s spending plan, but warned Democrats to try to define them all as ‘infrastructure’.
“No, Senator. These are all vital needs,” he said. “I would argue that it is just as important as nuts and bolts and grids and networks. But if you tap a word of its meaning, you damage its impact, your cause and the value of language.”