It’s hard to be surprised anymore over what the left sees racism in. From traffic lights to evergreen trees, there’s really no end. Now, thanks to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, that list is growing to include infrastructure (according to its true definition, not Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s).
During an interview with theGrio’s White House correspondent April Ryan, Buttigieg explained how roads and bridges divide communities along racial lines and said there’s “racism physically built” into American infrastructure.
“If you’re in Washington, I’m told that the history of that highway is one that was built at the expense of communities of color in the D.C. area,” he said. “There are stories and I think Philadelphia and Pittsburgh [and] in New York, Robert Moses famously saw through the construction of a lot of highways.”
This “wasn’t just an act of neglect,” he said, but was a “conscious choice.”
Buttigieg is currently working with the Biden administration on the $2.25 trillion “infrastructure” plan; less than 6 percent actually goes toward roads and bridges, however.
“There is racism physically built into some of our highways, and that’s why the jobs plan has specifically committed to reconnect some of the communities that were divided by these dollars,” he added.
Republicans have blasted the bill, calling it a "Trojan horse" hiding massive tax hikes on the American people and a means of ramming through "far-left agenda items."
Only 9% of the Democrats' "COVID relief" bill actually went towards COVID relief. Now, less than 6% of their "infrastructure" bill goes toward actual infrastructure. They're using this to pass far-left agenda items at Americans' expense. Read more here: https://t.co/9aobHaIqrU
— Gary Palmer (@USRepGaryPalmer) April 7, 2021
-Less than 6 percent ($115 billion) for roads and bridges
-43 percent more is spent on mass transit and rail ($165 billion) than for roads and bridges
-Less than 2 percent ($42 billion) for waterways, locks, dams, ports, and airports
-Less than 5 percent ($100 billion) for broadband
-74 percent more is spent on subsidies for electric vehicles ($174 billion) than for broadband.
-Meanwhile, most of the bill consists of non-infrastructure provisions such as:
-$400 billion for expansion of Medicaid
-$213 billion for housing and to increase federal control of local housing markets
-$100 billion of additional funding for schools without requiring them to reopen
-$50 billion for a new office at the U.S. Department of Commerce
-$35 billion for climate science, innovation, and R&D
-$10 billion for a new “Civilian Climate Corps”
-Overturns right-to-work laws in 27 states
Join the conversation as a VIP Member