Repaving Parking Lots Is Climate Change?

Just the News is reporting today that of the $740,000 the U.S. Department of Agriculture is sending to Pennsylvania for “critical infrastructure to combat climate change,” $500,000 will be a given as a grant to repave four parking lots in the Town of Bloomsburg in Columbia County.

The article reports:

The USDA Rural Development program provides taxpayer money for all sorts of programs, from infrastructure to health care to environmental and economic concerns in the rural parts of America. In fiscal year 2022, it provided almost $1.5 billion for local projects.

Its latest announcement noted 16 projects in Pennsylvania, but the lion’s share of the funding will go to four parking lots in Bloomsburg.

“These 16 projects represent Pennsylvania’s diverse rural economy and will strengthen its resilience,” USDA State Director Bob Morgan said in a news release. “The Biden-Harris Administration has created a roadmap for how we can tackle the climate crisis and expand access to renewable energy infrastructure.”

That roadmap has a strong emphasis on cars.

The article concludes:

While a federal program, Pennsylvania also provides agricultural grants and subsidies. Critics have called the spending corporate welfare that does not produce economic growth or jobs, as The Center Square previously reported, but supporters argue the spending is necessary.

Energy-related projects are at most 33% of the USDA’s latest funding announcement. The majority of funds “to combat climate change” in Pennsylvania went, instead, to a car-related infrastructure project.

Corporate welfare has become a way of life in Washington. It’s time Americans voted out the big spenders and elected some people who at least have a basic respect for the pocketbooks of the voters.