Campaign for Liberty Chairman Ron Paul issued the following statement regarding President Biden’s unveiling of an estimated $2.5 trillion infrastructure plan:
“President Biden’s so-called ‘infrastructure plan’ uses the need to fix crumbling roads and bridges as a cover to increase spending, debt, taxes, and the federal government’s power.
“Reports are only $650 billion of this multi-trillion dollar bill will be spent on infrastructure like roads and bridges. This spending is designed to hide the bill’s true purpose: funding programs to force all Americans into electric cars and to ‘retrofit’ our houses. These are the first step in implementing the Green New Deal.
“The plan’s proposed spending of $580 billion for programs to ‘strengthen’ manufacturing will weaken American businesses by giving government bureaucrats new powers to decide which businesses should get support from the federal government and which projects should receive funding. Private investors, entrepreneurs, and consumers should decide what businesses and products are worthy of investment, not government bureaucrats.
“The plan also weakens American businesses by increasing taxes on corporations.
“Instead of adding trillions more to our national debt, funding more wasteful programs to change the way we live, and raising taxes on American businesses, President Biden and Congress should return responsibility for infrastructure to states, local governments, and private businesses. They should also end all subsidies for energy, including fossil fuels and ‘alternative’ energy sources, and they should compete on a level playing field. Finally, they should free up funds for building roads and bridges over here by ceasing to waste billions blowing up and rebuilding roads and bridges overseas.”