How’s your summer going? While you are hopefully having a nice relaxing summer, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is trying to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and a $3.5 trillion budget bill with tax increases. In fact, earlier this week, Sen. Schumer attempted a vote on the infrastructure bill. The vote failed to get the necessary 60 votes to proceed. Here’s the catch - there weren’t any details in the bill so nobody really knew what they were voting on. It takes the “we have to pass the bill to see what’s in it,” to a whole new level. Quite honestly, it was amazing that anybody voted for it. How do you vote for a bill that spends $1.2 trillion and not know what’s in it? Only in Washington, I guess. The defeat was also significant in that this bill was the bipartisan bill they announced with such great fanfare a month ago. Now, Sen. Schumer wants to proceed on a vote for a $3.5 trillion budget deal that has ZERO Republican support. All of this with an impending vote to raise the debt ceiling. The summer is definitely heating up for taxpayers.
The F-35 is Plane Waste
America’s top-of-the-line fighter jet might not be able to break the speed of sound or fire its own cannon, but its ability to score lucrative contracts for its manufacturer remains as impressive as ever. Last month Lockheed Martin won a nearly $500 million contract to develop new weapons for the troubled F-35 fighter. And earlier this month, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.8 billion contract to perform maintenance work and manage logistics for the F-35 program. The issues plaguing the F-35 fighter, its development, and its entry into service have received extensive coverage from policy analysts and government watchdog organizations, most recently from the Government Accountability Office.
The F-35 is not the military’s only expensive toy that isn’t ready for serious conflict. For years, the Navy poured money into the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program with the goal of creating a fleet of fast, high-tech ships with a wide range of weapon systems to choose from. The LCS was supposed to be capable of missions that ranged from intercepting drug-trafficking boats to destroying enemy ships. But simulations that pitted the LCS against similarly classed Chinese craft resulted in stunning defeats. The ships’ speed and sensors simply couldn’t make up for their anemic weapons. It’s hard to believe that an LCS with a $550 million price tag could end up with just a small-caliber main gun and missiles with a range of only five miles. The Navy wanted these ships to do everything, but ended up making them unable to do anything. The “easily adaptable” weapons and sensor modules were neither easy to adapt nor lethal enough to protect the ship. Now, the Navy is retiring four LCS hulls, some of which have been in service for less than a decade. But just as with the F-35, the wasted funding and development time mean that the armed forces are short on high-tech
and functional equipment that could actually be fielded to save lives.
It’s critical that policymakers reflect on the past while crafting a coherent national-defense strategy. Clearly, mistakes and an unwillingness to change course can cost countless lives. The 2,300 U.S. military personnel who died in Afghanistan over the last two decades and the hundreds of people who died during the latest Veterans Affairs scandal are sad testaments to this truth. Yet instead of learning from the past, the DoD is unnecessarily putting servicemembers’ lives at risk in the future. It’s time to pivot away from wasteful, unnecessary Pentagon programs such as the F-35 and insist that any future defense endeavors are carefully monitored for structural deficiencies and cost overruns from the get-go. After two decades of mismanaged war, servicemembers and taxpayers deserve better than a budget-busting boondoggle.
The Return of Net Neutrality?
Let’s hope not. Despite no clear evidence on why it’s needed, the return of Title II regulations on internet carriers and fabled “net neutrality” are on the docket for President Biden’s agenda. President Biden released a lengthy executive order this month that aims to tackle competition policy that was heavily panned by critics including TPA. The order included language that encourages the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reinstate net neutrality. Title II regulations prevented providers from blocking, throttling, or prioritizing data, but there was scant evidence that providers engaged in widespread actions of this nature before net neutrality was implemented. A 2019 investigation by TPA found few legitimate complaints of nefarious activity by providers after the rules went away.
A study released by the Vienna University of Economics and Business earlier this year indicated that net neutrality rules have harmed the growth of fiber infrastructure and high-speed internet adoption across the globe. Researchers examined net neutrality policies in 32 of the 37 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED), finding a negative correlation between regulations and internet expansion. The study also found that only Australia and New Zealand had not implemented net neutrality regulations and both experienced better internet development than the other 30 OCED countries. The researchers noted that uncertainty in political regimes — the various flip-flopping on policy based on whether the left or right is in power — harms private investment. The study said the introduction of net neutrality leads to a total decrease in new fiber investment by about 45 percent.
U.S. providers have invested nearly $2 trillion in broadband infrastructure in the past 25 years. After investment flattened while Title II was in place, it started to rise after the repeal. Average speeds saw a boost of 40 percent over two years. While the likes of YouTube and Netflix were asked to pull back on resolution in some European nations during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic so that important communications could be prioritized, the U.S. experienced few problems with speeds even with so many people working and learning from home. As the TPA investigation showed, net neutrality is mere smoke and mirrors, unnecessary government regulation promoted as protecting consumers when those consumers don’t actually need protecting. The FCC should stop trying to add red tape and let internet providers focus on closing the digital divide.
BLOGS:
MEDIA:
July 16, 2021: The Denver Gazette (Denver, Col.) quoted TPA in their story, “Biden raises fears of Big Tech censorship with COVID-19 misinformation push.”
July 18, 2021: I appeared on WBAL 1090 AM (Baltimore, Md.) to talk about the Baltimore County Inspector General.
July 19, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about eminent domain.
July 19, 2021: I appeared on “The Steve Gruber Show” on WJIM 1240 (Grand Rapids, Michigan) to talk about infrastructure.
July 19, 2021: I appeared on KWTO 93.3 FM (Springfield, Mo.) to talk about infrastructure.
July 19, 2021: Inside Sources ran TPA’s op-ed, “Consumers Will Bear the Brunt of Superfund Taxes on Chemicals.”
July 20, 2021: National Review ran TPA’s op-ed, “Our Wasteful Defense Establishment.”
July 20, 2021: I appeared on KRC 550 AM (Cincinnati, Ohio) to talk about the infrastructure bill.
July 20, 2021: I appeared on KWTO 93.3 FM (Springfield, Mo.) to talk about the infrastructure bill.
July 21, 2021: Real Clear Policy ran TPA’s op-ed, “FCC Shouldn't Follow Through on Biden Administration's Title II Plan.”
July 21, 2021: Real Clear Markets ran TPA’s op-ed, “A Republican Tech Tantrum Imperils Its Net Neutrality Win.”
July 21, 2021: Townhall.com ran TPA’s op-ed, “If The FDA Can Fast Track Covid Vaccines, It Can Do the Same For ALS Medications.”
July 22, 2021: WBFF Fox45 (Baltimore, Md.) interviewed me about the Gun Trace Task Force scandal.
July 22, 2021: I appeared on WBOB 600 AM (Jacksonville, Fla.) to talk about the infrastructure deal and the debt ceiling.
July 22, 2021: VP of Policy Patrick Hedger appeared on the KDKA Morning Show w/ Larry Richert and Kevin Battle on 1020 KDKA (Pittsburgh) to discuss the White House pressure on social media companies and the First Amendment.
Have a great weekend!
