There are a few twists and turns in the process of dealing with the infrastructure bill that is before Congress.<\/p>\n
The Epoch Times<\/a> reported yesterday:<\/p>\n Buried in the \u201cInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act\u201d<\/a> in the U.S. Senate is approval for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to test a new federal tax<\/a> on every mile driven by individual Americans.<\/strong><\/p>\n The bill directs Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to establish a pilot program to demonstrate a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee designed \u201cto restore and maintain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The objectives of the pilot program include:<\/strong><\/p>\n To test the design, acceptance, implementation, and financial sustainability of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n To address the need for additional revenue for surface transportation infrastructure<\/a> and a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n To provide recommendations relating to the adoption and implementation of a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n Although the new tax is described as a pilot program and would initially rely upon \u201cvolunteers\u201d representing all 50 states, the infrastructure measure would also require the Treasury Department to establish a mechanism to collect motor vehicle per-mile user fees from the participants.<\/strong><\/p>\n Make no mistake–this will eventually be a tax on all Americans if it is allowed to go through.<\/p>\n On Monday, Breitbart<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n Earlier in the year, President Joe Biden nominated Gayle (Manchin – Senator Joe Manchin’s wife) to be the co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission. This commission is an economic development partnership involving the federal government and 13 states.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Washington Times<\/em> reported<\/a> that the bill\u2019s language makes the Appalachian Regional Commission \u201cset to receive an additional billion dollars over the next four years. The new funding is set to increase the agency\u2019s federal budget by more than 50% annually.\u201d This year the commission requested\u00a0$235 million from the taxpayer-funded federal government for their operation funding. That was already a 30 percent increase from the\u00a0$175 million they received in 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n For this to possibly secure the senator\u2019s vote, the commission, where his wife makes $160 thousand annually, is given an\u00a0additional $200 million annually to focus on projects, which equals one billion dollars from\u00a0fiscal years 2022 to 2026. The Times<\/em> added:<\/strong><\/p>\n ARC\u2019s funding increase is significantly larger than other federal regional commissions are set to receive in the infrastructure package.<\/strong><\/p>\n Apart from money, the infrastructure package also expands the ARC\u2019s authority to increase broadband internet access by providing grants and \u201ctechnical assistance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The text of the bill was originally\u00a0obtained<\/a>\u00a0exclusively by Breitbart News from U.S. Senate sources not authorized to leak it after showing \u201cconcern that the murky and secretive process behind this bill may have led to widespread corruption throughout its nearly three thousand pages.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When there are almost three thousand pages in a bill, there are bound to be some questionable items.<\/p>\n And finally, Zero Hedge<\/a> posted the following today:<\/p>\n An already-tenuous $1 trillion infrastructure spending package has been thrown into further disarray <\/em>this week, after lawmakers filed nearly 300 amendments<\/em> to the legislation, according to The Hill<\/em><\/a>, which notes that in several instances “senators are holding their colleagues\u2019 amendments hostage by objecting to voting on them unless their own priorities are also guaranteed a vote.”<\/strong><\/p>\n Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are a few twists and turns in the process of dealing with the infrastructure bill that is before Congress. The Epoch Times reported yesterday: Buried in the \u201cInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act\u201d in the U.S. Senate is approval for … Continue reading