„What it is, really, is the Green New Deal.“
In fairness, Philip Bump treats this more kindly than he should in calling Joe Biden’s infrastructure proposal “Biden politics at its purest.” Bump gives an approving gloss on Biden’s “expansive” use of the word infrastructure, while objecting to the political nature of criticisms over that expansive redefinition. However, in pointing all this out, Bump makes the sotto voce case that Biden has basically wrapped up decades of Democratic hobby horses and slapped the word “infrastructure” on it. Oh, and Bump also coined a useful word as well — “infrasandwich.” It beats “s*** sandwich,” which is what this bill actually is: In Pittsburgh on Wednesday, President Biden threw his bridge into the ring. He formally announced the American Jobs Plan, a $2 trillion proposal that would spend billions on improving roads and airports, overhauling water and energy systems and bolster economic and caregiving systems. It’s an expansive interpretation of the word “infrastructure,” certainly, leading quickly to criticism from Republicans. Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R-S.D.) disparaged Biden’s infrasandwich in a Fox News appearance. “I was shocked by how much doesn’t go into infrastructure,” she said of the proposal. “It goes into research and development. It goes into housing and pipes and different initiatives, green energy. And it really is not an honest conversation we’re having about what this proposal is.” While praising the politics of the initiative, Bump essentially argues that Biden is playing a bait-and-switch campaign. All he’s really done is relabel the Green New Deal: The White House’s approach was almost guaranteed to result in Noem-like complaints. It’s intentionally expansive in its aims, hoping to reshape and reinforce the country’s underpinnings in a way that extends beyond simply the much-loved “crumbling roads” of political legend.
