This episode of A Midwest Conversation Podcast:
Infrastructure is moving…slowly
This week the Senate passed the 1.2T dollar infrastructure approving 550B in new spending for roads, bridges, broadband, and water infrastructure. That bill now moves to the House, where House moderates are pushing Nancy Pelosi to rush to a vote before the upcoming recess. Pelosi has signaled there will not be a vote on the 1.2T first bill until the Senate also passes the larger 3.5T budget bill. The Senate has approved the 3.5T bill to be debated and reconciled in the Senate and an eventual vote. There are some moderate Dems in the Senate like Joe Manchin who have expressed some concerns about the scope of the larger budget bill. At the same time, House Progressives like AOC and the Squad have made a public statement of “no climate no deal.” If the Senate passes the 3.5T budget plan without the climate change provisions, Progressives will vote NO on the 1.2T roads and bridges bill. Effectively tanking the entire infrastructure plan altogether.
Finally, the Progressives are using their leverage in the House to move Washington toward their agenda, starting with the climate crisis. We have a very long process ahead. The House is playing a game of chicken with the Senate waiting for the passing of the larger budget bill and the Progressives threatening to hold their vote until climate initiatives are placed in the budget plan. All of that before the 1.2T plan is voted on and passed through the House. Then the budget plan will move into the House and be voted on and passed before both bills can move to Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. I predict, best-case scenario, we will not have infrastructure until October. Worst case, December.
Obama turned 60…whoopty fuckin do
Former President Obama had his 60th birthday party last week, which received a lot of press coverage. The press coverage was nothing more than covering for the overall hypocrisy of the elite liberal establishment. The New York Times White House correspondent went on CNN to defend the over 100+ person party and why they could be indoors even without masks despite what they tell normal people. The answer “This was a sophisticated vaccinated crowd.”
Nan’s plan for Ohio jobs
Nan Whaley, a democratic hopeful running for governor in Ohio, announced her jobs plan this week. There are some good things about this plan. Investing in R&D to combat automation in the trucking industry is, in my view, the most important. There are also some great union actions in this plan as well. Companies that aggressively fight against unions will not receive state assistance like tax incentives at all. Also, companies whose wage pay is below living to where their employees qualify for Medicaid will not qualify for state assistance. Nan’s plan also includes a “buy Ohio” plan. This means anything the state purchases from the private sector will be from an Ohio business.
Some things in the plan will be tough to do or not work at all.
In this plan, there are job retraining programs for people being pushed out of the workforce. Government retraining programs do not work. 45-60-year-old truckers are not going to listen to governmental agencies that tell them they will learn a new technological skill for another job. Nan also wants to raise Ohio’s minimum wage to 15 per hour. While I support this, getting this done in Ohio will be next to impossible with the state assembly being so conservative. However, Nan has called for a ballot initiative if the 15 dollar wage can not be passed through regular order.
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