{"id":391838,"date":"2021-04-12T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T20:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=391838"},"modified":"2021-04-13T16:15:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T20:15:42","slug":"bidens-bill-isnt-infrastructure-rush-realized-trump-really-wanted-to-fix-roads-and-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2021\/04\/12\/bidens-bill-isnt-infrastructure-rush-realized-trump-really-wanted-to-fix-roads-and-bridges\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Bill Isn\u2019t Infrastructure! Rush Realized Trump Really Wanted to Fix Roads and Bridges"},"content":{"rendered":"

JASON: You know, we\u2019ve been having some fun about Kirsten Gillibrand\u2019s infrastructure is day care, infrastructure is care giving, infrastructure is anything I want it to be. But she wasn\u2019t the only one who\u2019s making excuses for this massive, massive budget-busting, trillion-dollar infrastructure bill. For heaven\u2019s sake, do you know how much we\u2019ve spent on covid refusal already? It\u2019s $5.7 trillion.<\/p>\n

Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. There\u2019s an argument to be made if the government is going to shut down your business, they ought to make you whole. But the real answer is not to shut down your business. Instead, it was an excuse to spend $5.7 trillion on extraneous items.<\/p>\n

\"\"Now they move on to “infrastructure,” and it\u2019s another couple of trillion, none of which has anything to do with infrastructure. Which is why the Democrats are running around saying, “Infrastructure is anything you want it to be.” Listen to energy secretary Jennifer Granholm. She\u2019d destroyed Michigan. Now she wants to destroy the country.<\/p>\n

GRANHOLM: What is infrastructure? Historically, it\u2019s been what makes the economy move. What is it that we all need to ensure that we as citizens are productive? Infrastructure evolves to meet the American people\u2019s aspirations, and it\u2019s not (snickers) statistic. We don\u2019t want to use past definitions of infrastructure when we are moving into the future — and, by the way, when other countries are investing significantly in their infrastructure to overcome us!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

JASON: What a crock. What a crock. Infrastructure is moving people and things, period. Ports, dams, highways, airports. Everybody knows that. And yet if you break down Biden\u2019s infrastructure plan, the Gillibrand-Granholm plan, why, there\u2019s money for public schools, $100 billion. “Child care access.” The National Science Foundation. “Affordable housing. Clean energy.” Electric vehicles and public transit, both of which will drain the Highway Trust Fund.<\/p>\n

That trust fund is funded by you, the automobile driver, 23.4 cents a gallon. Guess how much electric vehicles pay into that? Zip, zero, nada. If you want to buy an electric vehicle, I don\u2019t care. But we shouldn\u2019t be subsidizing your purchase every time you do so to the tune of $7,500. We should be making you pay when you charge your electric vehicle, just like gas users pay.<\/p>\n

And when you subsidize $100 million-per-mile light rail lines that do nothing for productivity, they don\u2019t pay anything into the highway trust fund either. That\u2019s why it\u2019s broke. That\u2019s why Chris Christie had a pretty good line yesterday. Play cut 10.<\/p>\n

CHRISTIE: Here\u2019s what\u2019s not popular. Lying is not popular. It\u2019s not infrastructure, George. If Donald Trump could come out and called a dog a cat, which is what Joe Biden\u2019s doing, we would be outraged by the fact that he\u2019s lying. But with Joe Biden\u2019s somehow it\u2019s like, “Oh, well, come on. It\u2019s Joe.” No, no, no, no. It\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

JASON: He doesn\u2019t know he\u2019s lying, Chris. That\u2019s the problem. Kamala knows it, but Joe doesn\u2019t know it. Rush talked about this not long ago and here\u2019s what El Rushbo had to say.<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, let\u2019s compare the two stimuli. The Obama stimulus, otherwise known as the Porkulus bill, was never going to be spent on the claims Obama made: rebuilding roads and bridges and schools. Everybody knew, on the Republican side, because they know who Obama was and is. Obama is a Big Government liberal, and when Big Government liberals spend Big Government money, it\u2019s usually spent on welfare or similar type things.<\/p>\n

In the case of Obama\u2019s stimulus, most of it went to union groups state by state by state. They weren\u2019t any new roads built, other than those already scheduled to be repaired and built. There weren\u2019t any new school repairs, and there weren\u2019t any bridges. None of the things that Obama got the money for actually happened.<\/p>\n

\"\"But Trump has been very specific about what he wants to use this money for. He wants to rebuild roads, bridges, and he makes a point of airports. And he talks about how dilapidated they are compared to other modernized airports in other places around the world.<\/p>\n

And I think all this reflects is a realization on the part of American people. The American people, many of them, and particularly on the Republican side, think the country is falling apart in a whole bunch of different ways. We\u2019re falling apart culturally. We are falling apart in our politics. We\u2019re falling apart politically. And I believe it\u2019s nothing more complicated than people actually do think that we need to modernize some things in this country.<\/p>\n

And I believe that if you would deeply ask these people, if you would find these people that make up the people saying 90%, say, agree with the premise, you would find that the vast majority of them think that this is a legitimate responsibility for government, state and federal combined, to make sure that the airports are modernized and not falling apart, to make sure bridges are not gonna collapse down the road, to make sure dams are okay. The stuff that people assume government does anyway, that\u2019s government\u2019s responsibility, state and local.<\/p>\n

I mean, the private sector gets hired to do these projects. That\u2019s another aspect of this. You\u2019re gonna spend a trillion dollars, but who\u2019s gonna get it? It\u2019s gonna go to jobs, it\u2019s gonna go to contractors, it\u2019s gonna go to people who get hired to build and rebuild and refurbish these various projects. This money is literally going to end up — I think people trust Trump on this — this money is literally going to end up in the economy. It\u2019s going to end up as commerce. It\u2019s going to create jobs. It\u2019s going to have demonstrable upside results.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s just a simple matter of trusting Trump when he says this is what he\u2019s gonna do, plus he\u2019s a builder. And they look at Trump\u2019s properties, they see the buildings and other things that Trump has built, and they are all modern, and they\u2019re all state-of-the-art, and they all look cool. And this is what Trump\u2019s expertise is. And I think people agree with Trump when he runs around complaining about the state of infrastructure in this country.<\/p>\n

JASON: You know, I\u2019m so glad Rush brought that up. I served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 115th Congress. We were pushing. We were trying to mark up the Trump infrastructure bill. And when we come back, I\u2019m gonna tell you the exact difference. It couldn\u2019t be more stark. Rush hinted at this, and I\u2019m gonna try to fill in the gaps here, because one infrastructure bill was much less costly. I\u2019ll tell you how we did it: Increased productivity. The other one redistributes wealth. It really is simple as that.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

JASON: Congressman Jason Lewis. Now, when I was in the 115th, let me tell you how we handled infrastructure. The president had a $2 trillion plan. Guess how much it would have cost federal taxpayers had the Democrats allowed it to get out of the TNI Committee on which I served? $250 billion to $300 billion bucks. “What?” you say. It\u2019s called the three P\u2019s. Public-private partnership.<\/p>\n

We were going to do what Australia has done so successfully, and that is leverage private funds to build the infrastructure. Australia used $5 billion from their central government to leverage over $20 billion in private and state investment, and how you do it was actually pretty simple. You set up a bonus fund at the federal government level.<\/p>\n

You say, “If the state government starts to sell off nonperforming public assets to private entities, we will give you a bonus. First come, first served.” So you may have a utility, you may have a housing project, you may have a road, you may have a small airport. You sell that off to a private entity. It gets to the tax rolls instead of sitting there.<\/p>\n

They run it better. You take the proceeds from that sale, get a bonus from the federal government at a fraction of the cost, and then you use all that new money on new infrastructure. That\u2019s what we were gonna do in TNI. That\u2019s how Trump could leverage $250 billion to $2 trillion, and it all was going towards roads and bridges and airports.<\/p>\n

I shouldn\u2019t say all, but most of it. Now this is gonna cost us a net three trillion or more, when it\u2019s all said and done, from Mr. Biden. And then they\u2019ll add earmarks, which are back — they weren\u2019t back when I was serving — and it\u2019s total chaos. It is, as Rush pointed out, the bridge to nowhere.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Obama is going to this bridge. I thought Obama had already been to the bridge. It\u2019s the bridge that affects both Boehner and McConnell, links Ohio and Kentucky, and the bridge… There\u2019s no trouble. The bridge does not qualify for anything stimulus wise. (interruption) No, it\u2019s not falling down. In fact, it doesn\u2019t even need any repairs.<\/p>\n

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