Get ready for infrastructure week, everybody! No, really. A plan to America's rapidly decaying roads, bridges, water pipes, and other public infrastructure was turned into a laugh line after Team Trump's every attempt to roll out their own poison-pilled ideas were either thwarted by scandal or obviously rushed out to distract from a burgeoning scandal. It became enough of a joke that the White House seemingly abandoned those efforts, instead focusing on new sales pitches like "what if Jared here solves the problems of the Middle East by repeatedly insulting Palestinians and telling them they'll get nothing and like it."
The "plan" on how to solve one of this nation's most critical longstanding problems therefore falls on Democrats to produce. Today House Democrats are introducing a five-year, $760 billion plan of their own.
In statements, Energy and Commerce Committee chair Frank Pallone emphasized that the plan "combats climate change by reducing carbon emissions and moving us towards a clean energy future," while Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal noted that the current "deficiencies" of our networks "hold our nation's economy back."
A factsheet on the numbers and goals behind the plan, dubbed the Moving Forward Framework, can be found here. It includes $34 billion in clean energy investment, $86 billion for expanding broadband access in underserved areas, $55 billion in rail network modernization, and $329 billion in highway and bridge repairs, increasing support for zero-emissions vehicles, and resilience to climate change.
The bad news? With Republicans in charge of the Senate and Mitch McConnell, in particular, making no secret of his efforts to bury every bill the House sends him, there's not much of a chance that it makes it into law. Think of it as the House's declaration of negotiating position—once the Senate gets around to wanting to tackle "infrastructure" in some future year, under leadership that isn't brazenly corrupt.