Hi — I wanted to share this editorial from the Star-Ledger regarding the importance of advancing a standalone, bipartisan infrastructure bill. I pasted the link and article below.

I'm always eager to hear your thoughts, and thanks again for everything! Stay safe. 

Yours,
Josh
 
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Don’t hold the infrastructure bill hostage, Democrats | Editorial

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board


We hold this truth to be self-evident: America, for all its virtues and purple mountain majesties, is a putrefied wreck. 

We can no longer postpone upgrades to our physical infrastructure – transportation networks, water systems, energy grid, communications systems – so decades after we started hearing the foundation creak, the Senate has finally crafted a bipartisan bill that will begin the process of repairing this mess.

This $1 trillion investment, however, could face obstacles in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the progressive wing claim that they’ll pass the hard infrastructure bill only if it is paired with a more ambitious, $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that covers “human infrastructure” needs, most of them related to safety-net programs and climate initiatives.

It is a dubious, if not dangerous, strategy.

While most Americans agree that these are also urgent priorities, this is not the time for saber-rattling, this is the time to fix the house while the money, momentum, and mutual conviction are there. Take a ride through the Hudson tubes or a drive across one of New Jersey’s 500-plus deficient bridges if you doubt it: The last thing the country needs is for someone to tank the infrastructure bill out of political petulance.

Or consult the people who have lived with this issue every day for years:

“We’ve been waiting decades for an infrastructure package, and we can’t wait any longer,” says Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th Dist.). “The tunnel is exhibit A. New Jersey has the third-worst roads in the country, and one-third of our bridges are unsafe.

“Bottom line: We can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We can grab the largest investment in infrastructure in a century, or we can get nothing. That’s the choice. I choose the investment that’s great for New Jersey over nothing any day of the week.”

“There’s a bit of choreography right now, or maybe the better analogy is air traffic control: We have a couple of planes circling that we have to bring in, and I’m confident we will,” says Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-7th Dist.). “But the important thing is that this infrastructure bill, while not giving us everything we want, does give us everything we need.”

Granted, they’re close to it: As members of the Problems Solvers Caucus, these two helped write the original infrastructure bill, and to this day, their numbers are the same ones the Senate has used.

So both want Pelosi to post the hard infrastructure bill for a vote as soon as possible -- the Senate is likely to pass it by an overwhelming margin this week, with Mitch McConnell aboard – but no one questions that this is supposed to tee up a larger social spending package that will be passed during reconciliation.

For now, celebrate what is contained in the 2,700 pages of the first bill. It is packed with things that everyone can use, and it will literally transform the American tableau.

It will rebuild roads and bridges, replace lead pipes, deliver broadband to rural areas, update the power grid with new transmission lines for renewable energy, and modernize public transit. It will also ease traffic congestion to reduce pollution, mitigate damage from extreme weather, develop supplies of rare metals needed for clean energy equipment like batteries and solar panels, make buildings more energy efficient, and create a charging network for EVs.

Yes, landing both planes at the same time is a complex process for any Congress, but it must not be overlooked that the first bill was a bipartisan triumph. As Malinowski put it: “It validates Joe Biden’s style of leadership.”

Indeed, the president’s promise of bringing the parties together – fleeting as it may be – has resulted in a historic package that a lesser politician could never deliver amid the perpetual partisan pie fight. It is also the kind of thing that legislators should live for.

This is merely a down payment on all the work that has been deferred for decades, so in that way, the progressive caucus is right. America’s big fix is just getting started. But it must start without further delay.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 


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| Paid for by Josh Gottheimer for Congress |
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Josh Gottheimer for Congress
PO Box 584
Suite 407
Ridgewood NJ 07451 United States

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