Posted on 01/31/2023 12:51:58 PM PST by Red Badger
President Joe Biden on Jan. 31 announced nearly $1.2 billion in mega grants for a series of infrastructure projects, including $292 million to build a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, which comes amid a government borrowing limit standoff with Republicans who are pushing for spending curbs.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a release that Biden has announced that nearly $1.2 billion has been awarded from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) discretionary grant program for a total of nine projects nationwide.
“After receiving over one hundred applications, we are proud to fund these nine infrastructure megaprojects across the country to create jobs, strengthen our supply chains, expand our economy, and renew America’s built landscape,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
The projects include $250 million for the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Kentucky and Ohio, $150 million to replace the Calcasieu River Bridge in Louisiana, and $117 million for the Metra Commuter Railroad in Illinois to replace some 11 bridges and 4 miles of track structure.
Biden will travel to New York City on Tuesday, where he will tout the $292 million mega grant for the Hudson Tunnel Project that the White House said in a statement will result in 72,000 direct and indirect jobs during construction.
Hudson Tunnel
The Hudson Tunnel Project will renovate the 1910 tunnel that carries around 200,000 weekday passengers beneath the Hudson between New Jersey and Manhattan, which now runs at full capacity, resulting in bottlenecks and delays.
Passengers faced 12,653 minutes of delay in 2020 due to outdated tunnel infrastructure issues, the White House said. Delays occurred on 54 days and were caused by various problems with the electrical power, signal, and track systems.
The existing tunnel also faces problems due to seawater flooding from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 that damaged concrete, steel, tracks, signaling, and electrical components.
Besides revamping the old tunnel, some of the grant money will also be used to help complete the concrete casing for an additional rail tunnel beneath the river, make track modifications near Penn Station, and construct ventilation shafts and fan plants in New Jersey and New York.
Overall, the Hudson Tunnel Project is expected to cost $16 billion.
“When the project is done, the redundant capacity provided by a second tunnel will mean fewer delays and less risk for catastrophic disruption,” the White House stated.
Former President Donald Trump opposed the Hudson Tunnel Project back when it was called the Gateway Project, arguing that it wasn’t a priority for the federal government to fund and that the two states should bear more of the cost.
Biden’s trip to New York City comes on the heels of his stop on Jan. 30 in Baltimore to highlight the replacement of an aging rail tunnel there, where he pledged that government spending on infrastructure would boost economic growth and create jobs.
“When America sees these projects popping up across the country, it sends a really important message: When we work together, there’s not a damn thing we can’t do,” Biden said on Monday. “There’s nothing beyond our capacity.”
In total, the Mega program will invest $5 billion through 2026 to help rebuild infrastructure. In this particular application cycle, the DOT received applications for around $30 billion in funding, which far exceeded the $1 billion or so available for this round.
‘Wasteful Washington Spending’
Biden’s trips to Baltimore and New York that tout the massive infrastructure investment come as Republican lawmakers seek deep spending cuts in exchange for lifting the government’s legal borrowing limit.
Republicans have argued that enormous federal spending hurts economic growth, threatens to drown future generations in debt, and that the budget should be balanced.
“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runway spending,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Jan. 29 during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” program.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in America who doesn’t agree that there’s some wasteful Washington spending that we can eliminate,” he added.
Two dozen GOP senators have signed a letter to Biden, conveying their “outright opposition to a debt-ceiling hike without real structural spending reform that reduces deficit spending and brings back fiscal sanity back to Washington.”
McCarthy and Biden are scheduled to meet on Feb. 1, with the GOP lawmaker looking to press his case for spending cuts even though White House officials have said Biden won’t negotiate over the debt limit.
Much as they did in 2011, Republicans want to pair this year’s debt ceiling hike with spending cuts. Some veterans of the 2011 showdown see a tougher battle this time around.
“This year is going to be much harder than 2011, because of the shrill nature of the political discourse,” said former Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), who served in the House during that time.
Others think Washington will find a solution before the Treasury Department runs out of money.
“That’s what things like the debt ceiling are built for—they’re forcing mechanisms that create an artificial deadline,” said former Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio).
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department announced on Monday that it plans to borrow $932 billion in private-held net marketable debt during the first quarter of 2023 and another $278 billion the following quarter, for a total of over $1.2 trillion.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Put a sock in it, DC Kabuki Show.
MEGA Money Laundering.
MEGA Money Grifting!....................10% for the Big Guy!...............
Stopping Illegal Immigration is far more popular than fiscal restraints and spending.
NO Debt ceiling increase until the Trump Wall is finished completely, the House is adjourned.
Sometimes you just have to take the bottle away from the drunk.
Especially when they keep running over people
“Hudson Tunnel Project is expected to cost $16 billion.”
NYTimes headline, 2038: Hudson Tunnel Project completed coming in just under $280 billion.
A new rail tunnel from NYC to NJ makes sense, but only if it’s one way exiting the city.
Had congress done their job the last 50 years and fixed the crumbling bridge and other infrastructure, we wouldn’t now need to spend money fixing them.
As retired County and City engineer, these mega projects just chap my ass.
Here is an example from Washington State. The 520 Floating bridge was started and within a month already had a $400 million change order. Total cost of the project was $850 million.
Washington State has 39 counties and had the state divided that money between all the counties it would have solved more Average Daily traffic problems that affected more vehicles than all the Average Daily traffic that crosses that bridge each day.
Omnibus spending bills surrender Congress’ authority over the purse. Congress needs to craft and vote on specific line items.
Someone needs to tell Buttigieg we’ve already seen this movie. Where was he in 2009 when $831 billion of taxpayer funds was on the table for the same purpose? He needs to be asked if the name Solyndra means anything to him...A reminder for ALL, it was Biden’s job as VP to make an accounting of all those funds!!!! Another job he didn’t take seriously!
“”Infrastructure
Senate – $46 billion for transportation projects, including $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $11.5 billion for mass transit and rail projects; $4.6 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers; $5 billion for public housing improvements; $6.4 billion for clean and drinking water projects.
House – $47 billion for transportation projects, including $27 billion for highway and bridge construction and repair and $12 billion for mass transit, including $7.5 billion to buy transit equipment such as buses; and $31 billion to build and repair federal buildings and other public infrastructures.””
A shell game on steroids.
Ping
This is the fault of those Republicans in the Senate who are in favor of illegal immigration. If every time Dems had brought up how vital these projects were, the response was you decided they were not a priority (they were in the 2019 (IIRC) infrastructure bill) we would not be in this bind. Biden is taking a classic method of getting the funding, start the project, then dare the opponents to halt it.
$11 trillion spent from the Trump and Biden administration and nothing gets repaired.
90% of this money will be wasted and most of it will be funneled back to Democrats campaigns..................
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.