Tim Kaine Thinks Virginia Needs More Federal Handouts

From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA):

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It’s clear Virginia needs real federal investment to fix our transportation system. We need to repair roads and bridges, alleviate highway traffic, reduce Metro’s safety maintenance backlog, replace aging drinking water pipes, make coastal communities more resilient to sea level rise, and expand rural broadband.

Unfortunately, President Trump’s recently announced infrastructure proposal skimps on real federal investments to deal with those needs, and instead relies on local governments and private interests to foot the bill. This means you could have to pay higher taxes and tolls to cover the costs.

Trump’s plan also claims we can build new infrastructure by rolling back environmental rules, meaning agencies don’t necessarily have to do their homework before approving projects that might, say, use eminent domain to seize private land for a highway or pipeline, or authorize a new development near a floodplain without looking at rates of sea level rise.

I’m a big supporter of fixing our roads, bridges, and rail — but I will not go along with privatizing our nation’s infrastructure, shifting federal responsibilities onto cash-strapped cities and towns, or robbing Peter to pay Paul by taking federal funds from other important priorities.

We need an infrastructure plan that makes daily life easier for you and your family – not one that sticks you with more taxes and tolls. We’ve got to do better than this. I stand ready to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle on a real plan that rebuilds our crumbling infrastructure.

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Editorial comment: I have not personally observed anything he's complaining about, except the fact that some people's private homes are still Internet-free--which may reflect personal choice. (I prefer my home being Net-free.) I see people who imagine that "heavy highway traffic" means "I could see another car in my rearview mirror on a long straight stretch of highway. About the resilience of coastal communities I wouldn't know, but what I see is exuding a faint smell of pork.