June 19, 2021

Critics Say Bipartisan Infrastructure Proposal Will Enrich Wall Street Investors

Refusing to touch the 2017 GOP tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, a bipartisan group of 21 senators is proposing a series of alternative infrastructure funding mechanisms that critics say amount to a thinly veiled scheme to privatize the nation’s roads, bridges, and water systems.

In a statement issued Thursday as the details of the bipartisan proposal began to emerge, Mary Grant of advocacy group Food & Water Watch warned that the plan “would pile further burdens on communities struggling to recover from the Covid pandemic.”

“It promotes privatization and so-called ‘public-private partnerships’ instead of making public investments in publicly-owned infrastructure,” Grant said. “This package does not provide adequate funding to rebuild and repair our country’s infrastructure; it is nothing more than an outrageously expensive way to borrow funds, with the ultimate bill paid back by households and local businesses in the form of higher rates.”

Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, said Thursday that by deeming any changes to the 2017 GOP tax law off limits, the bipartisan Senate group is showing that it’s “more interested in having less Infrastructure investment in order to justify keeping in place a rigged tax code that favors corporations and the rich rather than actually coming up with a plan that solves the enormous challenges that our country faces.”

https://truthout.org/articles/critics-say-bipartisan-infrastructure-proposal-will-enrich-wall-street-investors/