Bridge Collapse In PA As Biden Set To Visit

Today's bridge collapse in Pittsburgh on the day that President Biden visits is a bizarre coincidence that only emphasizes the need to get on with infrastructure repairs and replacements under the President's $1 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which he signed into law on November 15. Fortunately, the reports from the collapse indicate that there were no fatalities. The bridge carries roughly 14,000 vehicles per day. More from AP:

"Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones said three or four vehicles were involved in the collapse and there were 10 minor injuries with three brought to the hospital. None of the injuries were life-threatening, Jones said.

At the site of the collapse, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said 'it’s just an awful surreal scene.'

'I hope it’s a wake-up call to the nation that we need to make these infrastructure investments.'

Authorities told motorists to avoid the area.

In a statement, the White House said Biden would proceed with his planned trip to Pittsburgh.

'Our team is in touch with state and local officials on the ground as they continue to gather information about the cause of the collapse,' the statement said. 'The President is grateful to the first responders who rushed to assist the drivers who were on the bridge at the time.'”  (our emphasis)

Thirty Republican Senators voted against the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, including right-wing corporate shill Sen. Pat Toomey (Club for Plutocrat Growth - PA), who has chosen not to run for reelection in November. Those 30 should not be allowed to escape blame the next time a bridge or tunnel collapses in their state.

(photo: Collapsed bridge on Forbes Ave. Gene J. Puskar / AP)

 

Poll: Biden's Agenda Overwhelmingly Popular

As Republican politicians rig voting laws to deny growing minorities their voting rights and to cling to power they see slipping away (see post below), the public backs President Biden's agenda by healthy margins. According to the latest Monmouth University poll:

"Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal is broadly popular, registering 68% support and just 29% opposition. Support for this spending plan – covering a gamut of projects from roads and trains to clean energy and internet access – comes from 94% of Democrats and 69% of independents, but just 32% of Republicans. [snip]

Biden is also set to unveil a large spending plan to expand access to healthcare and childcare as well as provide paid leave and college tuition support. Nearly 2 in 3 Americans (64%) support this idea while 34% are opposed. The poll also finds nearly 2 in 3 Americans support raising taxes on corporations (64%) and individuals earning more than $400,000 (65%) to pay for these plans."  (our emphasis)

You can expect President Biden to cover these two initiatives and more when he addresses the nation tomorrow before Congress. You can also expect the Republicans (and perhaps a ConservaDem or two) to oppose initiatives that would give Biden a "win" with the public, much like they did with President Obama. Patrick Murray, director of the University's polling operation, observes the contrast with the glaring incompetence of the "former guy":

"'It seemed like every week was Infrastructure Week during the Trump administration, but Biden is already getting more credit than his predecessor for tackling this problem,' said Murray."

Delivering on this agenda, no matter the cynical Republican opposition, is critical to improving Americans' lives and those of future generations. The public senses that, and the wind is at the President's back.

Poll Shows Strong Support For Biden Infrastructure Plan

 

Surprised not surprised:  once people know what's in President Biden's American Jobs Plan, the support for it grows. From Navigator Research (click to enlarge):

 

To counter continual bad faith Republican lies, Democrats and allied groups need to engage in a mass, multi- million dollar advertising and education effort right now to inform voters in every State and Congressional district what's in the plan, who pays for it, and what's at stake.  (The fitful, few ads we've seen on MSNBC don't cut through the clutter.)  And KISS.  Most importantly, remind West Virginians and Arizonans what they stand to gain from the plan, to make sure certain Senators of theirs don't obstruct its passage! 

What's In Biden's Infrastructure Plan, Summarized

 

The folks at the Washington Post summarize spending in the American Jobs Plan, President Biden's infrastructure initiative. 

(click on image to enlarge)

 

"A Once In A Lifetime Investment In America"

 

 

ICYMI, from President Biden's speech yesterday in Pittsburgh, announcing the American Jobs Plan:

"...[T]oday, I’m proposing a plan for the nation that rewards work, not just rewards wealth.  It builds a fair economy that gives everybody a chance to succeed, and it’s going to create the strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world. It’s not a plan that tinkers around the edges.  It’s a once-in-a generation investment in America, unlike anything we’ve seen or done since we built the Interstate Highway System and the Space Race decades ago.
 
"In fact, it’s the largest American jobs investment since World War Two.  It will create millions of jobs, good-paying jobs.  It will grow the economy, make us more competitive around the world, promote our national security interests, and put us in a position to win the global competition with China in the upcoming years. 
 
"Is it big?  Yes.  Is it bold?  Yes.  And we can get it done."

We have an opportunity to make up for decades of neglect and nickel- and- diming our infrastructure problems.  Plus, we need to show progressive government can do big things once again, and this is the vehicle for how we'll do it.  The plan isn't perfect, but it's transformational reach and promise are something to be proud of.

The Fight Ahead For The American Jobs Plan

 

The American Jobs Plan, President Biden's historic infrastructure rebuilding initiative, was rolled out yesterday at a carpenter's union training center in Pittsburgh. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne comments on the significance of the plan:

"The president is transforming the nation’s political assumptions by insisting that active government can foster economic growth, spread wealth to those now left out, and underwrite research and investment to produce a cleaner environment and a more competitive tech sector.

But all this comes wrapped in a big but thoroughly traditional government spending program that offers a lot of things to a lot of constituencies — and benefits to a great many voters.

'There is something old-fashioned and decidedly nonradical about Biden’s invitation to see enhanced infrastructure as a vital national interest and to mobilize government to get it done,' [NC Democratic Rep. David] Price said in an interview. 'The same goes for thinking of nationwide broadband as today’s rural electrification,' the latter a reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s popular initiative to bring electricity to a previously unlit countryside.

As a result, said Molly Murphy, a Democratic pollster, 'Republicans will face a tough challenge in trying to make something like infrastructure into something radical.' Which is why, she added, the GOP will try to focus their attacks on other aspects of the plan. 'Polling,' she said, 'has consistently shown broad support for the idea that rebuilding infrastructure is the best way to create jobs and get the economy moving.'”  (our emphasis)

As Ms. Murphy notes, Republicans, as is their wont, will lie about and obstruct this initiative because they know that it will be popular across party lines at the grass roots and will cost them votes. That was the same assumption that they made about President Obama's Affordable Care Act, and why they've tried to erase it ever since. Can't have the other party succeed, can we?

Four years under the former guy saw frequent announcements of "infrastructure week" only to be shelved, turning "infrastructure week" into a political punch line. The truth is, there was never an infrastructure plan to speak of to advance, just smoke and mirrors from the culture war party. Not any more.

Biden Infrastructure Plan Unveiled Today

 

It's a big f*cking deal:

President Biden on Wednesday will unveil a sprawling, ambitious infrastructure proposal that, if enacted, would overhaul how Americans get from point A to point B, how their electricity is generated, the speed of their Internet connections, the quality of their water and the physical makeup of the schools their children are educated in.

The measure, called the American Jobs Plan, includes big infrastructure fixes that both major parties — as well as a majority of Americans — consistently say they want to see, including upgrades to bridges, broadband and buildings.

The $2 trillion proposal includes:

• $115 billion to repair and rebuild bridges, highways and roads;
• $100 billion to expand high-speed broadband across the entire country;
• $100 billion to upgrade and build new schools;
• and $100 billion to expand and improve power lines, and spur a shift to clean energy.

And embedded within the plan are efforts to build out U.S. clean energy infrastructure that, by itself, would rank as one of the most ambitious initiatives ever by the federal government to lower the country's greenhouse gas emissions; along with efforts to address racial inequalities and advance the U.S. economy to compete with China.

The plan would be paid for by increasing taxes for corporations and people earning over $400,000 a year. 

As we noted yesterday, the plan is expected to reap huge benefits to the economy over the next 4 years and beyond. (An additional $1 trillion will be proposed for universal prekindergarten and free community college tuition, expanding spending on child care, and extending for several years the expansion of the child tax credit recently signed into law for just one year as part of the stimulus plan.)

There are already some on the left saying the plan isn't big enough;  on the right, the bad faith Republican Party squeals that it's too big.  (To those on the left, we'll simply trot out the truism that perfect should not be the enemy of good.  To those on the bad faith right, we'll simply say get out of the way.)

It's likelier than not that this "American Jobs Plan" will have to pass under budget reconciliation, as did the recent American Rescue Plan Act.  If that's the route needed, it means passage would be delayed until fall, when a new fiscal year begins. 

It's The Infrastructure, Stupid

The folks at Axios have been talking to Standard & Poors and Goldman Sachs about the impact of President Biden's proposed infrastructure bill and the recently- passed American Rescue Plan Act, and it's pretty eye- popping:

Economists are becoming positively giddy about the potential for economic growth this year as President Biden and Congressional Democrats look set to push forward a $3 trillion infrastructure bill.

What we're hearing: "Stimulus helps build the bridge for the recovery to reach the other side, but an investment in infrastructure is the fuel to jump start the economic engine," Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global, says in an email.

• S&P predicts Biden's infrastructure plan will create 2.3 million jobs by 2024, inject $5.7 trillion into the economy — which would be 10 times what was lost during the recession — and raise per-capita income by $2,400.

State of play: Economists at Goldman Sachs again revised up their outlook for growth this year in a Sunday note to clients, predicting real consumption will grow by 9.5% in Q1 and 12.5% in Q2, citing retailer reopenings, the reversal of winter storm effects and a decline in new COVID-19 infections.

• Further, they note that OpenTable restaurant reservations are nearing 70% of normal nationwide and are back above their pre-crisis level in Texas.
• They also anticipate the pace of fiscal support to U.S. consumers will accelerate by $1 trillion on an annualized basis (or 5% of GDP) for March and the second quarter, relative to the previous six months.

This is another game- changing piece of legislation that, should Republicans attempt to block it in the Senate, Democrats should feel good about "ramming through" (i.e., allowing a vote on the Senate floor).  It would have broad support in the country, if not with the Republican sedition caucus which is dedicated to sabotaging Democrats in general and Biden in particular.  Going big will pay big dividends for the Democratic Party, but more importantly for the nation.

Infrastructure Week #9 Off To A Rocky Start

Loser lightweight Donald "Rump" Trump, having become cornered on how to fund an infrastructure plan, suddenly (but with some obvious pre- planning) took umbrage at Speaker Pelosi's accurate comment that he was engaged in a coverup and stormed out of the infrastructure meeting he'd called at the White House with Congressional Democrats today.  He then waddled out to the Rose Garden, dry mouth and all, and proceeded to display his consciousness of guilt in his own incompetent way, saying no deals until the Democrats stop investigating him!  Here's how Speaker Pelosi described the events a few hours ago:



Very strange, but also not very surprising.

BONUS:  Just one of many risible moments in Trump's Rose Garden tantrum--

Consider the level of shamelessness required to orchestrate felony hush payments to women right before a presidential election you narrowly win, then turn around and say “I don’t do cover-ups.” pic.twitter.com/UaoCsJPr5c

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 22, 2019

Chimpy Does Minneapolis

The Preznit did his obligatory compassion "tour" of the I-35W bridge rubble today, saying that he was praying for the victims' families and rescue workers.

That's nice, but the Chimpster was full of compassion, promises and heartfelt statements after Katrina in New Orleans nearly two years ago, where over 1,800 people perished, and we know how that's gone. The problem is that Chimpy sees these as political photo ops -- or at worst, damage control for his leadership failures (almost seven years of infrastructure decay, while he pushes huge tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - his campaign contributors). So while the bridges and tunnels continue to deteriorate, Chimpy pledges that the I-35W bridge will be reconstructed quickly, but says nothing about the 70,000 bridges that are rated "structurally deficient." Must be waiting until January 2009.