Paul Krugman: Will MAGA Republicans Block Baltimore's Rebuilding? [View all]
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/01/opinion/baltimore-bridge-republicans.html
https://archive.is/GdLgN
Soon after a huge container ship struck Baltimores Francis Scott Key Bridge, bringing it down, President Biden pledged that the federal government would
pay the entire cost of reconstructing the bridge. This would clearly be the right thing to do, not just to help the state of Maryland but also to limit the economic damage from a disaster that has blocked both a major road artery and a major port. Among other things, the Port of Baltimore plays a key role in
both exports of coal and trade in farm and construction equipment, so the bridge disaster will have direct adverse effects on the heartland as well as the East Coast.
And if America were still the same country that enacted the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by a Republican president which gave rise to our Interstate System, there would be little question that Congress would approve funding soon after it returns from Easter recess. But we arent that country anymore. Biden will probably be able to get funds for rebuilding, but its by no means a sure thing. The rise of MAGA Republicans is only part of the problem. Ive seen several people citing the response to the 2007 collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota as an example of what things were like in a better political era. Indeed, within days,
Congress voted unanimously to provide $250 million in aid.
But that was a one-off. The Minnesota bridge collapse highlighted the decaying state of Americas infrastructure, and one might have expected the disaster to lead to real action, but it
didnt. President Barack Obama pleaded with Congress to approve broad increases in infrastructure spending and was able to sign a highway funding bill in 2015, but for the most part he was stymied by G.O.P. opposition. As president, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to revamp Americas infrastructure its infrastructure week became a running joke but never delivered. Major action on infrastructure didnt happen until late 2021 with the enactment of the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which, despite the name, received
only 13 Republican votes in the House. And that was with Democrats in full control of Congress.
Its not foolish to worry that MAGA hard-liners will block aid to Maryland in much the same way that theyve blocked aid to Ukraine. But, again, MAGA is only part of the problem. Lets talk for a minute about why it took 14 years after the Minnesota bridge collapse for us to finally take major action on infrastructure. Extreme partisanship, which took hold long before Trump took control of the G.O.P., is part of the answer. It was clear through most of the Obama years that Republicans wanted to prevent good things from happening on a Democratic presidents watch. Under Obama, G.O.P. legislators squeezed federal spending after they took control of the House, supposedly because they were worried about government debt, only to
open up the taps once Trump took office.
snip