Sen Sanders Proposes “Rebuilding Our Crumbling Infrastructure”

[rhett o rick]

Our infrastructure is collapsing, and Americans know it. They see it every day in the potholes they drive over, the bridges in their communities that have been shut down and the water pipes that burst.

The sad truth is that the American Society of Civil Engineers gives the United States of America an overall grade of D-plus on the condition of our infrastructure. That doesn’t just mean roads and bridges. It also means airports, dams, drinking water, electrical grids, hazardous waste, inland waterways, levees, mass transit, ports, public parks, rail lines, schools, and solid waste and wastewater management. Only one of the 16 categories evaluated earned as high as a B-minus (solid waste), and just four others finished in the C range (bridges, ports, public parks and rail).

Is this the best our country can do? No. We can and we must do better. That’s why we need to invest at least $1 trillion over five years to rebuild America. This will not only make us safer, more productive and more efficient, but it will generate income and create jobs — lots of jobs. The estimate is that this $1 trillion investment will create and maintain 13 million jobs — which is exactly what our economy needs. We have ignored our infrastructure crisis for too long. The time to act is now.

We are a great nation, but we cannot be a world leader when the physical infrastructure of our country is rotting and we are falling further and further behind other countries. We cannot be a world leader when real unemployment is more than 11 percent and millions of our people are unable to find decent-paying jobs. If we are serious about the future of our country and the needs of our middle class, it is imperative that we invest in infrastructure and rebuild America.
It’s high time we stopped bailing out Wall Street and started repairing Main Street.

See more on this and Sen Sanders other proposals at: https://berniesanders.com/issues/

cross posted in the Bernie Sanders Group

[boston bean]

1. So doesn't Hillary.....

[cali]

2. good. post her plan

[rhett o rick]

4. Good question. nm

[SMC22307]

3. This has been on my Pony List since the early '90s.

And here we are, over 20 years later. Kee-rist, the Netherlands gets glow-in-the-dark bike paths and we get crumbling infrastructure. GO TEAM USA!

[Pooka Fey]

5. Rebuilding our infrastructure (and our train system)

equals good middle class jobs. Go Bernie!

[frazzled]

6. Try getting half of that

Which is exactly what President Obama has (again) requested in his budget proposal.

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s proposed budget envisions a nearly half-trillion-dollar transportation construction spree that would seek to upgrade the nation’s roads, bridges and ports by imposing new taxes on overseas earnings by American companies.

The six-year, $478 billion infrastructure plan would provide a 33 percent increase in funding for big, new public works projects. The nation’s transportation trust fund is set to run out of money this summer, but if this program is passed by Congress it will increase funding for transit by 75 percent and finance construction jobs across the country.

...

But despite broad, bipartisan agreement on the need to fix thousands of aging and crumbling bridges and rail lines in cities and towns across the country, Mr. Obama’s proposal could face opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress because of the way he proposes to pay for the new construction.

About half of the new spending would be paid for by a new, one-time 14 percent tax on nearly $2 trillion of foreign earnings that currently escape immediate taxation, held overseas by companies like Apple, Cisco Systems and Microsoft. Officials said the proposal would raise about $238 billion in one-time revenues for the federal government to use to finance a new transportation trust fund. An additional $240 billion would come from the federal tax on gasoline and other revenue sources.

Major American companies are supposed to pay a 35 percent tax on their earnings overseas, but many avoid the penalty by using a legal loophole that allows them to keep the earnings in other countries indefinitely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/us/obama-budget-would-target-overseas-earnings-to-fund-transportation.html?_r=0

Obama requests big infrastructure spending every year (and stresses it in every single economic speech), but rarely gets what is needed from Congress. Is there a reason to suppose that this proposal from Bernie would meet with any more success?

This is an issue every Democrat underscores ... because government spending on infrastructure is good for the economy, good for jobs, good for the public safety. Republicans oppose it, because it involves raising taxes. This is hardly a novel issue for any candidate, and simply raising the amount proposed doesn't mean it is a better plan or (especially) that it becomes reality. It's campaign talk. It's a belief. And a good one. But beliefs don't magically become enacted.

[KG]

7. between gun or butter, this country has chosen guns.

[okaawhatever]

8. Who gives a flying flip what he wants. All Dem candidates want this. How can he get it paid for? How

can he get a GOP Senate and Congress to approve the money? It's not that I don't like Bernie or his ideas. It's that I know all these ideas mean nothing if they can't be implemented. Truth is, we need to raise the gasoline tax. It will cost the average American something like $2 a month but it will generate much more than that because businesses will bear the brunt of the burden. Will Bernie try to increase the gas tax to pay for roads?

Note: one of the reasons for the massive decrease in the highway trust fund is due to the improved fuel efficiency of vehicles (less revenue, but the same miles traveled each year) and the fact that the gas tax hasn't kept pace with inflation. The gas tax is not a percentage of the price of each gallon but a flat tax. It has been 18.4 cents per gallon since 1994.

Will Bernie get out there and say how he plans to pay for this or is this just more pie in the sky campaign promises. If he's truly different let him discuss the hards tuff. How he plans to pay for it and how he plans to get it through Congress.