As Joe Biden would say, “Here’s the deal.”
- The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill has finally passed the house and soon will be signed by President Biden. The biggest share of the package goes to roads and bridges, but there is also money for rural internet, shipping ports, airports, Amtrak, etc., etc.
No taxes will be raised to pay for the package … not a penny. Existing accounts fund it all. Therefore, not a cent will be added to the national debt, which Republicans swear they care about except when a member of their own party is president.
Then they could care less.
- The reality is this initiative to modernize America is long overdue. We have dramatically fallen behind the rest of the world in so many categories and it is one of the reasons the supply chain of goods from overseas has been so stressed. Ships lined up for weeks trying to get into ports, unload and then reload.
Additionally, millions of Americans don’t have access to the internet, which means those folks still live in the 20th century, or worse, and are punished socially, economically and educationally because of it.
Oh, and their health suffers also.
- Rhetoric and Republicans obviously hold hands, or worse, sleep together, most of the time. None of our seven public servants in the Congress found a way to vote yes on the investment package for our country, notwithstanding the fact that no tax increases were necessary to fully fund it. As a matter of fact, over the 10-year life of the modernization mechanisms, there will be a surplus from the effort and that will be deposited into the federal treasury.
So, in summary, some things never change. Our entire elephant delegation knows our country’s infrastructure is falling apart. They know its needs have been ignored by both Ds and Rs since Republican President Dwight Eisenhower when he proposed, funded and built our interstate highway system way back in the 1950s.
And by the way, there is one other thing that never changes: You can bet your bottom dollar Sens. Inhofe and Lankford plus Congresspersons Lucas, Cole, Mullin, Hern and Bice won’t miss any of the ribbon cuttings that other people, mostly Democrats, made possible through their Yes votes last night.
Finally, even though our half-a-dozen-plus-one lawmakers all took a hike on making our arterials better, safer and more modern, I believe recognition should still go to them in the form of naming a highway in Oklahoma in honor of each of our esteemed solons.
To make that process simple, understandable and appropriate let me suggest the following: How about Hypocrite Highways Number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7?
Hell, we wouldn’t even have to put their surnames on the big, green markers. Everybody already knows who they and even more importantly what they are.
