Bill Seeks to Strengthen the Home Front
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 – While it is rebuilding Iraq, the United States should not be ignoring projects on the home front, according to a bill introduced by Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) that seeks to bolster the U.S. infrastructure by refocusing government spending.
The bill says that for each dollar spent on Iraq reconstruction, the same amount must be spent on domestic infrastructure projects such as schools, dams and public facilities. Delahunt joined Reps. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) at a press conference Thursday to introduce the American Parity Act of 2005. The bill was previously proposed in 2003 but never put to a vote.
“This administration has created a mess in Iraq, it’s creating a mess in America,” Delahunt said. “If we’re going to have a strong America let’s begin at home, and that’s what this act is all about. This is about priorities for America.”
Everything from fixing dams and schools to building primary health care centers was mentioned as possible uses for the money. The bill would not affect military spending in Iraq.
Delahunt referred to recent infrastructure problems that have resulted in widespread damage, including hurricane-ravaged levees in New Orleans and a dam in Taunton that is on the verge of breaking, putting some 50,000 residents in danger.
The bill’s sponsors said the Bush Administration has ignored infrastructure needs with one hand and given the money to similar projects in Iraq with the other.
Delahunt said the a U.S. Coast Guard fleet was aging while the United States was building ports in Iraq.
Emanuel began the press conference by showing a picture of a $20 million dam built in Mosul, Iraq, next to a photo of the breached levees in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans.
“Not that any of us are against investing in Iraq’s future,” Emanuel said. “What we should not have is a situation where after this process and after the war and after the investments we made, Americas is weaker and not stronger.”
The U.S. presence in Iraq created a moral responsibility to rebuild that nation, Delahunt said. But he said American taxpayers should be repaid and the reconstruction process should be done as a loan and not as a free ride.
“It’s a giveaway, it’s a welfare program. It’s the terrible use of American taxpayer dollars,” Delahunt said.
The bill is not expected to make much headway in the House, according to Delahunt, but he emphasized the need for his party to press Republicans on the issue.
“You’ve got to keep pushing it in their face because they’re getting nervous because they’re looking at the polling data,” Delahunt said. “They’re saying to themselves, ‘Oh, we’re going down the wrong road.’ ”
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