H.R. 3684: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Spending approximately $1.2 trillion over the next five years, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is yet another in a long list of bloated government spending bills. This bill throws billions of dollars at left-wing projects, is out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans, and gives the cover of “bipartisanship” to radical progressives that are currently pushing a massive $3.5 trillion budget resolution by a party-line vote.

Advancing President Biden’s misguided climate agenda, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act spends a combined $15 billion on electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, electric buses, and other transit. This spending includes the construction of half a million new EV charging stations.

Despite years of subsidies and tax credits, electric vehicles remain an expensive luxury purchased only by the financially well-off. While everyday Americans struggle with a dramatic rise in gas and grocery prices, politicians instead elect to make it easier for the well-off to charge their Teslas.

This bill also spends a whopping $65 billion on rural broadband infrastructure. While bridging the digital divide is certainly a worthy goal, reckless government spending is not the solution. Rather than throwing money at the problem, our elected officials should be pursuing policies that use the power of the free market to expand access, such as the Gigabit Opportunity Act.

Amtrak, a public company that consistently operates at multi-million dollar losses, would receive an increase in funding to the tune of $66 billion. This dramatic increase ignores the fact that for every mile Americans traveled by rail in 2019, they traveled 100 miles by road. This bill proposes a lousy investment for American infrastructure, dumping money into a program that Americans don’t use.

President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are all too happy to get a photo-op with Republicans and pay lip service to “unity” and “bipartisanship.” At the same time, however, the Democrats are pushing through every left-wing priority they couldn’t fit in this bill in a $3.5 trillion partisan reconciliation package that is right around the corner.