General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Beware of People Pretending to Be on Our Side [View all]ignore the hundreds of billions of dollars that will go to large contractors etc. and pretend they don't want it is not correct. Nobody is saying that the first bill wouldn't help different projects and people. But to not see that you can use the passage of it as leverage for the BBB bill and in the future is to be oblivious to how negotiation works. Actually walking out of the car dealership and waiting a few days will often get you a call from the salesman saying they have accepted your offer. The highway/bridges etc. continue to be funded by extensions to existing legislation and that has been going on for several years and as one deeply involved in them I am always amused by how the centrists posture on infrastructure spending and then when something passes engage in agreeing to huge give-backs later on to what they just passed. Meanwhile they can go around puffing themselves up over having passed something initially. The record on follow-through is incredibly weak.
The time to get fundamental change is here. The status quo doesn't want fundamental change. They want to only allow small, scattered incremental change because those things are most easily hamstrung in subsequent budgeting/legislation. We either fight for fundamental change or we keep going along with the pattern of the last 40 years and keep passing bills with big sounding themes and price tags and hold them up to the public while knowing full well that weeks later the give-backs will begin. I say enough of the smoke and mirrors.