Here's Everything America Gets For $1.2 Trillion In Infrastructure Spending - Including The Crazy Stuff

After Friday night's 11th-hour vote in the House resulted in the passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill - thanks to 13 uniparty Republicans who joined the Congressional Black Caucus in short-sheeting House Progressives - the Wall Street Journal and Forbes have published refreshers of what what America is supposedly getting out of the largest investment in infrastructure in more than a decade.

From 10,000 feet, investments span refurbishing aging roads, bridges and ports, replacing lead pipes, upgrading and hardening the nation's power grid, and of course - a healthy investment in 'infrastructure' to battle the ever-looming man-made climate change disaster that we're told will turn coastal cities into a modern Atlantis.

To help pay for the roughly $550 billion in new spending (nearly half is previously approved funding), more than $200 billion in unused coronavirus relief funds will be repurposed, along with $50 billion from a Trump-era rule on Medicare rebates, and another $50 billion from various states' unused unemployment insurance supplemental funds. Where the rest will come from? Tax hikes and IRS colonoscopies are slated to offset the upcoming social spending bill, assuming Democrats are able to slip both into the reconciliation bill that somehow passes muster for moderate Democrat Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ).

In truth, it isn't paid for at all.

Anyhow, drilling down - in addition to including controversial cryptocurrency tax reporting requirements, the infrastructure bill will invest in the following via Forbes:

Roads and bridges: Headlining the 2,702-page bill's spending, roughly $110 billion of new funds would go toward improving the nation's roads and bridges, and investments in other major transportation programs.

Public transit: The package also includes the largest-ever federal investment in public transit, allotting $39 billion to modernize systems, improve access for the elderly and people with disabilities, and repair more than 24,000 buses, 5,000 rail cars and thousands of miles of train tracks.

Amtrak: The legislation marks the largest investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago, with $66 billion earmarked for high-speed rail, safety improvements, Amtrak grants and to modernize the rail route connecting Washington, D.C., to Boston.

Broadband internet: Tacking on to billions authorized by last year's American Rescue Plan, the infrastructure bill includes $65 billion to bolster the country's broadband infrastructure and help ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, with one in four households expected to be eligible for a $30-per-month subsidy to pay for internet.

Electric grid: Though many clean-energy measures were cut from the bill to satisfy spending-weary lawmakers, a $65 billion investment will help upgrade the nation's electricity grid, with thousands of miles of new transmission lines and funds for environmentally friendly smart-grid technology.

Electric cars, buses and ferries: In addition to $7.5 billion for the nation's first network of electric-vehicle chargers along highway corridors, lawmakers have shored up $5 billion for zero-emission buses (including thousands of electric school buses) and $2.5 billion for ferries.

Clean drinking water: Following high-profile water-supply crises plaguing cities like Flint, Michigan, the legislation includes a provision for $55 billion to replace all the nation's lead pipes and service lines, representing the largest investment in clean drinking water ever.

Great rivers and lakes: Among the bill's $48 billion for water infrastructure improvements, about $1 billion is slated to go toward the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a sweeping clean-up measure targeting toxic hot spots—or areas of heavy industrial pollution—around the Great Lakes region.

Airports: More than $25 billion has been allocated to help modernize America's airports—funds the Airports Council International says will help tackle more than $115 billion worth of project backlogs.

Road safety: The deal invests $11 billion in transportation safety programs, including a new program to help states and localities reduce crashes and fatalities in their communities, particularly among cyclists and pedestrians.

*  *  *

And now, the crazy stuff:

   Republicans just helped Democrats get $500 million for “Transportation Resilience and Adaptation Centers of Excellence” https://t.co/sp8KOQ21O6
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

Continued via @Oilfield_Rando, with each tweet linking to relevant portion of the bill:

   After $70 billion in covid relief, Republicans just helped Democrats give universities another $400 million https://t.co/dT6GblCOpJ
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

   Republicans just forced states to provide an annual list of “disadvantaged businesses” owned by women and minorities, verified by in person inspectionshttps://t.co/0cpxmDahcb
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

   Republicans just gave Democrats $75 million for a study on how to enact income-based road usage fees https://t.co/inRo035ZPR
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

   Republicans just gave $2.1 billion to North Dakota’s carbon dioxide pipelines, a payout for @SenKevinCramer. Lining each other’s pockets. https://t.co/gCjKSmYtVS
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

   The bipartisan infrastructure bill requires states to consider measures to promote electric vehicles.

   They’re so great that your tax dollars must be used to convince you to buy them. https://t.co/XGVggc7zD8
   — Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) November 6, 2021

And more (click into thread):

   Brandon Build Back China bill includes $5B for zero-emission & low-emission buses.

   Lobbyists hired by Ponzi Chinese EV maker BYD at this minute are fighting tooth and nail to get a piece of the fund :https://t.co/xLkY6fBabh pic.twitter.com/dKet6pEdKd
   — BenjaminT /Boycott 2022 Genocide Olympics (@BenjaminT0001) November 6, 2021

   Meanwhile.. lobbyist hired by China are swarming like locusts :https://t.co/TaQR2H2Tvh
   — BenjaminT /Boycott 2022 Genocide Olympics (@BenjaminT0001) November 6, 2021

Here's what we really get for one point two million million dollars:

FUCKED

least we got a glimpse of who won't vote to impeach Yo Brandon

FPNI!

$110 billion roads & bridges
$ 39 billion public transit
$ 66 billion railroads
$ 65 billion broadband internet
$ 65 billion electric grid
$ 7.5 billion electric cars, buses and ferries
$ 55 billion clean drinking water
$ 48 billion water infrastructure improvements
$ 25 billion airports
$ 11 billion road safety

That's "only" $491.5 billion.  Where's the other $708.5 billion going?

We are so hosed...  

The government is broke and spending like they have a deep bank account.

credit card going brr

I would be behind replacing lead piping, cleaning up the lakes, etc. That all sounds great.
However, in real life what money that isn't spent through outright graft will simply be wasted.  Then they come hat in hand next time.  "We need more money"

...

“Oh, so you are a corporation and you want some of this money?  Just sign this document that says you agree to hire LGBTQ executives and require vaccinations and will donate money to various causes to be named later.”

Lol. This country is a joke.

I mean WHAT THE EVER LOVING FUCK?

I lost well over $100,000 from being out of work directly because of the government mandated shutdown of the entire entertainment industry. Why can't I get some of those unused $200 BILLION to replace the money that I was prevented from earning for nearly 18 months?

Also, The State of Maryland still owes me over $17,000 that I haven't be able to even apply for because of their shirt for brains State Labor and Unemployment office and their fucking computer glitches that prevented me from access my UI account for over 6 months. Why can't they do something to actually pay out those fund to the people were should have received them in the first place?

Fucking pieces of shit ass holes, the whole lot of them.

Screw the late night voting shenanigans of these crooked POS.

So right now an electric school bus runs around $300,000 to $350,000 for ONE bus.   This DOES NOT include any charging infrastructure.

5,000,000,000/325,000
= 15,000 buses

we are getting hosed

For comparison purposes a diesel or gasoline equipped school bus is roughly $90,000

This is actually my favorite part of this (or least favorite, or most disgusting, however you want to put it; it's the most nauseating aspect of this bill to me by far). They frame this as "Oh, there's only $550 billion in new spending, so don't count all of that other money".

Uh... Hold on a second there. If $550 billion of the $1.2 trillion is "new spending", and they're simply repurposing the other $650 billion or so that was going to be spent on something else, but hasn't been spent yet... they're still spending $1.2 trillion on new shit. That "repurposed" money hasn't been spent. You can't omit that as spending - or even "new spending", the entire $1.2 trillion is ALL new spending.

Say you have $1000 sitting in a bank account. The bank lent it to you, and you haven't spent it yet. You've never held it in your hand, it's just yours in the ether. You were planning on spending it on ammo. But the bank just lent you another $1000, and you decide to get another rifle with the full $2000 instead of buying the ammo. Is only the second $1k "new spending"? Or did you just spend $2k of "new spending"  (of borrowed money, too) on a new rifle?

It's fucking retarded, and a fantastic example of the games that these people play to try and lie to us. And people gobble it right up.

How is there any extra "corona relief money" left? I thought we had major shortages of PPE and such? I thought the situation was dire?

Hunter and the Big Guy.

That’s crazy.

Shut up, you are not authorized to ask questions!

That's going to be fun. A 40' electric city bus is currently running about 1 million. School bus will probably run $350-500k each.

If they go standard 80-20 grants communities will be responsible for 20% of the purchase cost of these new fleets. Most systems aren't going to have enough in their capital improvement budgets so it will be tacked onto property tax bills.

No new taxes for anyone earning less than 400k a year *disclaimer must live in tent on public property*

FPNI.

We need a great reset and it isn’t what they’ve been talking about.

Another 65 billion in broadband internet

startlink is estimated to cost 25-30 billion for the entire infrastructure.

That's for the big guy.

And this after billions have already been spent.

And yet for 12 years, My house in a semi rural area has shown to be serviced by two companies, but neither will connect me. One wants over 4k to run a line to me. So they get billions, but I am supposed to pay for it?

Apparently you're not disadvantaged enough, or the right color of skin.

Yeah the head Luciferian wants his Vig

Still has to pass the senate

Uh, that was in August.

Well fuck

not too bad.

The super woke SJW half of the 3.5 trillion Bill still needs to pass the Senate.

Maybe 20% of this one will help the country. All the congress critters were working for their piece.

Lead piping is a non issue 99% of the time. If it's not broke don't fix it. Flint was a unique situation, but lead piping is safe in most circumstances. But like every issue the libs have, lead sounds bad so they decide to spend billions of dollars to fix it without looking into the science/engineering first.

I was at a local city council meeting for something unrelated when the "modernization" of their school bus fleet came up.
Some of the highlights:
1. The busses cost roughly 1.5x the amount of a conventional bus (our fleet is mostly CNG already so more expensive then gas/diesel)
2. The busses lack the range to do the daily routes, so 2x as many busses would be needed.
3. The bus "barn" that stores and services the current fleet is inadequate both in size and infrastructure for 2x the number of busses and the necessary charging capability. So basically they would need to "acquire" more land and start from scratch.

Maybe my battery and mining stocks will start to move a bit now.

Shit must be pretty fucked up if they are.actually trying to spend that much on it. Surprised it's not a lot more pork

At an absolute minimum double the cost any time government does anything. Gota pay for that fraud, waste and abuse government is so good at perpetuating.

Starlink will have a tuff time keeping up with demand plus they probably have to throw bezos or ula or something a bone as competition...

You know how each election cycle the Dems continue to set record campaign fundraising?

That's how its done.

Streets, roads and bridges is payoffs to the paving/concrete unions.

AmTrak already is a taxpayer subsidized failure.  Another $75 billion will disappear into crony bank accounts.

All these plug in ports for electric vehicles but not one dime for expanding the electric grid to support the increase in demand.    You can't just pull electricity out of the air.

Yea huh where do you think lightning comes from?

If you gotta ask.....

I can't imagine that there will be a oversight committee or any accountability. It's gonna be like Christmas with those who are "connected". Unreal.

Don't forget the 2X number of bus drivers the districts will have to hire to drive all of those damn buses. They can't find enough bus drivers now.

All going to politically connected companies and to line peoples pockets.

From another post I saw where like 50 billion or some crazy number was to fix bridges and roads that create racial disparity and they need to resolve these issues.....I doubt it would come out of anything but any of the funds listed here...

I wonder how in the hell that anything gets done on any project. Not one business I know of has enough help to do the work that is on the table now. With the upcoming vaccine situation up and coming I guess all the immigration imports will be gettin all the uncle sugar jobs on the path to citizenship. Can't keep the wheels turning now.

Oh that extra money was because they had to provide people to go inspect the locations they plan on putting broadband and decide if it created an unfair/racial divide and let them know if they can install it.....

...

This doesn't necessarily seem all that crazy to me depending on what that $400 million is used for. If it's for STEM research or scholarships or for facilities upgrades and modernizations that may actually make quite a bit of sense. People are paying for that stuff one way or another through tuition or Federal Grants/Loans... And STEM programs are a great value add to society.

Of course it could be for some BS though too...

I heard that some of the $650 billion was just funding of infrastructure costs for the next 10 years or so that are you usually funded on an annual basis, but aren't really an option not to fund. This way Congress can't hold our road quality hostage if they want to reduce the debt ceiling or suspend the debt ceiling for a spending extravaganza depending on which party is in power. The rest of course is probably BS.

I agree that we are heading for a fiscal cliff and that there was a lot of unnecessary stuff in this bill, but we also have to acknowledge that there are certain programs that should not be cut (like transportation). Thanks to the last 10 years of fiscal irresponsibility, the only fiscally conservative stance is now to stop all unnecessary spending and raise taxes across the board to keep our national debt from crippling the economy.

Carbon dioxide pipelines?