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Progressive Dreams for Infrastructure Spending
[TheHill] The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) will lay out its own infrastructure proposal this week, staking out a position ahead of a legislative debate over transportation that is expected to heat up later this year. The left may have stumbled on a new buzzword. The effort, spearheaded by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), attempts to paint a clear contrast with President Trump’s infrastructure vision by calling for direct public investment in roads, bridges and other public works, as opposed to providing "corporate giveaways" to spur private-sector investment. The proposal from Lieu would inject $2 trillion into a wide range of transportation projects over 10 years, including those that boost public transit systems, water and sewer systems, clean-energy jobs, high-speed internet access and veterans hospitals. Don't know the difference between transportation and infrastructure, do you?  The initiative would create 2.5 million jobs in the first year, according to the group, and take extra steps to ensure fair wages, workplace safety and racial and gender equality.For example, the white paper would raise the benchmark for locally prevailing wages in each area, require local hiring to reflect the racial and gender diversity of the community’s workforce, include robust "Buy America" requirements and prioritize the hiring of veterans. The effort would be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes and enacting other tax reforms. "The American people deserve to have a serious conversation about how to address these needs. To fund infrastructure projects, President Trump's relatively small and incoherent plan would use irresponsible tax gimmicks that benefit Wall Street at the expense of taxpayers," Lieu said in a statement. While raising corporate taxes (which aren't paid for by the consumer?) and "other tax reforms" is all free money, right, Mr. Congressman? Posted by: Bobby 2017-05-23 |
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