How Washington turned ‘real’ infrastructure into an ideological wish list of nonsense

OPINION:

For four years under President Joe Biden, Americans were promised a new era of rebuilding our infrastructure — an era of investment in the roads, bridges, water systems and ports that keep our economy moving. But once you look at what Washington actually labels “infrastructure,” the picture becomes much less clear. When everything becomes infrastructure, real infrastructure takes the hit.

Infrastructure used to be an issue that Americans could expect lawmakers in Washington to find common ground and bipartisan solutions. Whether you lived in small-town Byron, Michigan, or downtown Detroit, everyone had similar priorities: maintain safe bridges, repair broken roads, modernize ports and keep supply chains moving. Those goals weren’t partisan — they were practical.

Somewhere along the way, however, the promise of fixing our broken roads and bridges took a back seat to an ideological agenda. When the Biden administration jammed a $1.2 trillion spending bill through Congress, he told the American people it was for infrastructure. Everyone wants better infrastructure, but the bill focused more on advancing a left-wing wish list and rewarding special interests, rather than rebuilding and strengthening the roads, bridges and other real infrastructure that people deserve.

Rebuilding America’s ports to improve shipping would be a great example of real infrastructure — and one that Biden promised the American people. Unfortunately, most of the $17 billion allocated for ports was for transitioning away from fossil fuels, rather than improving shipping access. While our government was allocating $5 billion for electric school buses, $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations and $10 billion for carbon capture efforts, our real infrastructure continued to crumble.

The consequences of this reckless approach are real. Look no further than my home state of Michigan, where two-thirds of our bridges have already outlived their originally designed lifespan. Currently, more than 100 bridges are at risk of closing before 2035 and will cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions to repair.

The plywood boards running along the beams above you as you drive under a bridge or overpass are often rather bluntly called diapers. They are there to catch crumbling debris so it doesn’t fall through your windshield as the road surface above you deteriorates. Instead of fixing those bridges, we wasted money trying to electrify buses that can’t even cover a full shift of range and paying millions per electric vehicle charging station.

For drivers, truckers and small businesses across our state, that’s not an ideological problem. It affects them every day. Poor road conditions cause costly damage to vehicles, and congestion and closures force drivers onto longer routes. In some parts of our state, broken infrastructure costs drivers thousands of dollars per year.

With the $1.2 trillion price tag on President Biden’s infrastructure plan, we could have repaired every broken bridge in this country several times over or even repaved the entire interstate highway system. Instead, the bill prioritized appealing to climate activists in Washington rather than addressing the deteriorating roads, bridges and other infrastructure needed to keep our economy moving.

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I was sent to Congress to fight for the people of mid-Michigan, and that means investing in the real infrastructure our families depend on. I’ve been focused on exactly that — securing resources for infrastructure that gets workers to their jobs, goods to market, and clean water to family homes. This year, I’ve secured more than $15 million in real infrastructure projects for our region.

That includes funding to repair aging bridges, improve critical roadways, replace broken passenger bridges at the Lansing Airport and provide safe water for our communities. These are practical improvements that will help the people I serve thrive.

When a bridge is repaired, truckers can take the fastest route instead of a costly detour. When roads are improved, commuters spend less time stuck in traffic and less money repairing their vehicles. When transportation hubs are modernized, businesses have greater confidence to invest and grow in our communities.

Washington is finally putting the needs of everyday families before the needs of climate activists. I’ve said many times while meeting with folks across my district — one of the best things about the Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress is that we no longer need to put the word “real” in front of infrastructure because it’s just implied already.

Americans don’t need Washington to reinvent “infrastructure.” They need Washington to fix it.

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• Rep. Tom Barrett represents Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. A lifelong Michigander, Tom spent 22 years in the Army flying helicopters and serving deployments around the world before serving in the Michigan Legislature, where he championed veterans, working families, and infrastructure. Now, Tom brings those same values and dedication to Washington — fighting in Congress to ensure that Michigan and the nation remain places where everyone can thrive. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Ashley and their four kids.