This is a bigger win for Joe Biden than you think
While many believe that the new infrastructure bill is not doing enough for climate change, Nitish Pahwa of Slate magazine lays out for us just what this bill will do. President Biden has taken a beating from the media lately, and while they continue to downplay his work and predict “doom and gloom,” this bill was a substantial victory for him.
Pahwa reminded us of Trump’s promises to deal with the infrastructure by constantly yelling out “infrastructure week,” but Biden got it done. To rub in that point, Pahwa said: “It’s really, actually infrastructure week.” As with any legislature, this bill has its fair share of critics, especially from climate activists who say it helps car manufacturers more than people, but in the end, electric vehicles help us all by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Yes, there are still initiatives to be passed that will do more, but can we not be happy about what we are getting in this bill? Pahwa tries to help us do that by outlining exactly where some of this money will go and how it will benefit us.
Resilience initiatives will protect vulnerable communities from wildfires, floods, and droughts while $21 billion will go to cleaning up pollution. Those pollutants are especially prevalent in communities of color, which is something to be celebrated. Communities of color are always on the losing end of any deal, but this bill changes that. Look at Flint, Michigan, with its poisoned water. That city is 54% black according to the most recent census, and President Biden’s bill will not only clean up the pollutants that caused this disaster, but it seeks to protect and ensure clean drinking water and better handling of wastewater, which will prevent a repeat of the Flint situation. Surely, people care about having clean drinking water and pollution clean-up. Even if they do not, there are other areas of this bill that benefit everyone. In fact, as Pahwa points out, $300 billion of the $1.2 trillion allocated will go to environmentally sustainable projects. Best of all, this legislation will create new jobs to do all the necessary work.
This money will help states that have been trying on their own to combat climate change, and changes to the electrical grid are very much needed across the nation. Will this bill solve all our problems? Of course not, but it is a good first step. Instead of complaining about it, we should be applauding it, and we should also applaud Biden’s success in getting even a few Republicans on board. The news was blowing up earlier about Trump calling Republicans who voted for the bill RINOs and other ugly things that we will not even get into, but if nothing else will convince you that this is a good bill, Trump’s ire should give a clue. He was unsuccessful at getting any type of infrastructure bill done. Now, we can at least move in the right direction with this bill and work together to get the remaining portions passed. Never forget that a half-full glass is better than none.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years