Ron Brownstein thinks it is a bad political move: With their opposition to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, Republicans are doubling down on a core bet they’ve made for his presidency: that the GOP can maintain support among its key […]
infrastructure
Michelle Cottle offers a “dictionary for these polarized times”
The premise of Cottle’s piece at The New York Times is that Democrats and Republicans no longer speak the same language. Take, for example, the phrase “fake news”: Pre-Trump, most folks thought of fake news as media sources that trafficked […]
Local journalism and infrastructure spending
Can infrastructure spending save local journalism in the United States? I sure hope so. Check out Osita Nwanevu’s piece at The New Republic: …the administration’s push for a more capacious definition of infrastructure should encourage us to think even more […]
Amtrak will expand routes if Biden’s American Jobs Plan passes
Joe Biden spent most of his senate career commuting to Wilmington, Delaware to Washington D.C. via Amtrak. His new infrastructure plan will give $80 billion to the rail line. Here is Joseph Spector and Joey Garrison at USA Today: How […]
Racism and interstate highways
Joe Biden’s new infrastructure plan singled out the Claiborne Expressway in New Orleans as a “racist highway. The plan sets aside $20 billion to “reconnect” neighborhoods that were racially divided by highway construction. Over at NPR, Noel King interviews New […]
“The ‘only 5 percent’ counts as ‘real infrastructure’ talking point is utterly bogus”
I wrote last week: “The opponents of Joe Biden’s new bill think “infrastructure” is just roads and bridges.” Paul Waldman nails it: First, let’s be clear that the “only 5 percent” counts as “real infrastructure” talking point is utterly bogus. It defines infrastructure […]
What is infrastructure?
The opponents of Joe Biden’s new bill think “infrastructure” is just roads and bridges. Yes, infrastructure was focused largely on roads and bridges in the early 19th-century, but it also included new innovations like railroads and the telegraph. Today those […]
Biden chief of staff Ron Klain on the president’s new infrastructure bill: “The president was elected to do a job”
Politico’s Ryan Lizza interviewed Klain yesterday. Here is one of the takeaways: BIPARTISANSHIP IS NOT THE GOAL: On attracting Republican votes for the infrastructure bill, Klain’s rhetoric sounded similar to how the administration discussed the Covid relief bill:“ Let’s work together […]