Politics & Government
Government Can Take Care Of The Citizens While Corporations Take Care Of Themselves
All the polls show Americans overwhelmingly support both the provisions and the funding for this measure, and why wouldn't they?
July 24, 2021
While the $1.3 trillion infrastructure bill continues to be hammered out in bipartisan negotiations, Biden and congressional Democrats deserve significant credit for moving ahead with a massive $3.5 trillion measure they aim to pass using reconciliation, in which a budget measure can pass with a simple majority and is not subject to the obstructions of the Senate’s outmoded filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to advance bills.
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That means this critical bill can become law with or without Republican votes. The measure will address very real, very serious and very important issues in our society while providing widespread benefits to our citizens. Republicans could pitch in, of course, were they not so busy trying to rewrite history on Trump’s Jan. 6 insurrection, bad-mouthing transgender athletes and LGBTQ citizens, and wasting taxpayer money sending national guard troops to the border for political theater.
What the bill does is nothing less than crucial. For instance, it expands Medicare to provide the nation’s 64 million elderly citizens health care for dental, vision, and hearing — vitally crucial concerns that were not covered previously by Medicare. If anyone thinks it’s more important to have another aircraft carrier than to allow the senior citizens who built this nation to see, hear and eat, feel free to step right up and whine — and don’t forget to tell Grandma and Grandpa your priorities, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.
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All the polls show Americans overwhelmingly support both the provisions and the funding for this measure — and why wouldn’t they? The simple truth is that if our government takes care of our citizens and the environment, the corporations will take care of themselves. Too bad that’s such an elusive concept for Republicans.
George Ochenski writes from Helena.
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