LTE – JoAnn Utphall – 11-10-2021
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Friday evening 13 Republican Representatives, along with most of the Democrats, passed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill (I-Bill). The New York Times reported that the I-Bill passed on a 228 to 206 vote which ushers in a new wave of spending on infrastructure and the Green New Deal items.
The Republicans Representatives who voted for the bill were Don Young of Alaska; Adam Kinzinger of Illinois; Fred Upton of Michigan; Don Bacon of Nebraska; Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey; Andrew Garbarino, John Katko, Nicole Malliotakis and Tom Reed of New York; Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio; Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; and David McKinley of West Virginia. The six Democrats Representatives who voted against the bill are Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan; Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Cori Bush of Missouri; and Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. This really makes me wonder why Pressley, Tlaib, Omar and AOC (“The Squad”) did not vote for it when they have been pushing so hard for the Green New Deal.
According to Chairman Jim Banks, this bill contains money to be budgeted for non-traditional infrastructure. Only about $110 billion (about 10%) of the 1.2 trillion dollar I-Bill goes for roads, bridges, and other items that are truly infrastructure. The I-Bill will spend 66 billion to support the Green New Deal by replacing air travel with trains. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigleg described the $110 billion item (earmarked for rebuilding road and bridges) that will fix “racism that is physically built into some of our highways.” Money will be spent on expanding broadband which gives regulators oversight to decide where and when broadband expansion occurs and mandates that these projects cannot discriminate on “gender identity.” This bill will spend $15 billion to form an infrastructure for electric, zero-emission and low-emission plug-in vehicles. Guess who can afford these very expensive vehicles. So it is one way that the middle class is again subsidizing the rich. And guess where most of the money will be concentrated – in “Blue” cities?
The preliminary analysis by the Budget Leader Jason Smith’s team and other sources state that the promises of how we are going to pay for these projects are phony and full of gimmicks. At this point no one really knows how much these projects are going to cost.
The Deseret News reported that this bill includes controversial “anti-discrimination” measures that could possibly put religious freedom at risk. And the I-bill will push the Left’s social justice mission as the term “equity” is found 64 times in this bill.
The next bill – After assurances from the Congressional Budget Office that the Biden’s Build Back Better Act (Reconciliation Bill) will not contribute to the national debt, a vote on the Build Back Better Act was scheduled to take place before November 15th. In less than a week this bill will be voted on.
The Reconciliation bill’s total budget is $1.75 trillion which includes $400 billion (B) for Child Care & Preschool; $150 B for Home Care, $200 B for Child Tax & Earned Income Tax Credits; $555 B for Clean Energy and Climate Investments; $150 B for Housing; $130 B for ACA Credits; $35 B for Medicare Hearing; $40 B for Higher Education & Workforce; $90 B for Investments in Equity; and $100 B for Immigration.
Medicare eye and dental benefits were scrapped, as well as paid family leave; free college for the first two years, and a proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices – why was the last item scrapped?
Funding for other items were expanded or continued like Medicare benefits for hearing aids; Home-based Medicaid services; pre-K funding; extend the child tax credit for one more year; funding for child care centers, increase college grants for low-income students; HBCUs and tribal colleges; Affordable Care Act; housing; rural partnership program: equity and other investments.
According to Florida’s Rep. Kat Cammack, this bill contains some poisonous pills. First one is the $555 B for Green Energy subsites. How well is the move to Green Energy been fairing in CA with all of their electric blackouts? Wind and solar energy are not dependable. Wind doesn’t always blow and no sun at night. Along with the Green Energy would be a Methane Fee which would require a fee of $4,500 PER beef cow, $6,500 PER dairy cow and $2,500 PER hog. There are 93 million beef cows in the US which The US government would collect $418.5 billion dollars from just the beef farmers. This would cause the price of meat to increase 3 to 6 times of what it is now. Hamburger would cost at least $10 per pound. My small beef farm would be liable for over $600,000 in methane fees – we would go out of business. If this fee is imposed on the livestock farmers, the US will lose most of the livestock producers and will be dependent on foreign meat (from countries that don’t tax their livestock). Does that sound like food security to you?
Rep. Cammack also stated that $300 million would go to teacher unions and would empower them to promote CRT, etc. The local community newspapers would be bailed out which would be another way to indirectly control news content. $80 billion would be earmarked for expanding the IRS to hire more personnel to spy on Americans. Amnesty for illegals is included. Rep. Cammack claims that there are tax breaks in this bill for the rich while the middle class will get hit with higher taxes. Small businesses would be slapped with an additional $2.1 trillion in taxes. Also note that OSHA recently came out with a 400-page report mandating new Covid/vaccine regulations that will have a strong impact on small businesses.
The Reconciliation Bill could change as negotiations are currently in progress and will be voted on by November 15th. Contact your Congressional representatives if you don’t like some of the provisions in the bill or feel that it will trigger even higher inflation.
JoAnn Utphall
Boyceville