By Hunter Carpenter, Senior Director of Public Policy at ARA
Earlier this year, I joked on The Scoop podcast that “infrastructure week has turned into infrastructure quarter.” It turns out a three-month window was incredibly optimistic. However, in early November, Congress finally passed an enormous $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill that is receiving universal praise from the agriculture community.
ARA president and CEO Daren Coppock released the following statement following the bill’s passage:
“We are glad the House was finally able to come together and pass this critical piece of legislation. Investment in infrastructure has long been a priority for ARA, and we will continue to work to ensure the needs of ag retailers, their farmer-customers and all of rural America are met. While we are encouraged by President Biden’s swift signing of the legislation, ARA is strongly opposed to the House’s Build Back Better bill. The tax increases included in the plan would not only counteract any economic recovery but also result in steep cost increases for consumers.”
ARA supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill for two reasons: (1) it is bipartisan, which has unfortunately become a rare achievement in the Congress, and (2) it goes directly to physical infrastructure investments that improve U.S. transportation competitiveness. Physical infrastructure has not had sufficient maintenance investment in several decades, and maintaining the quality of that infrastructure is critical to being able to move farm inputs to retailers and farmers and deliver farm products to market.
Ag Retail Needs Good Infrastructure
When the ARA public policy committee met to solidify policy priorities for 2021, infrastructure improvements seemed like a great avenue to find true bicameral, bipartisan agreement. After all, a supply chain that is already seeing disruptions due to tax, trade and labor issues could not afford to fall victim to the simplest needs of working roads, bridges, ports, inland waterways and other basic infrastructure. This legislation will hopefully address those needs and do so quickly.
Also of note is the language to support lowering the federal age requirement to obtain a commercial driver’s license from 21 years old to 18 years old for short-haul drivers via a pilot program ARA has long supported.
Although the infrastructure bill’s price tag looks enormous, it’s important to remember that only $550 billion of the $1.2 trillion is new spending. The rest is covered by existing funding mechanisms. The nation’s crumbling infrastructure is due for improvements across the board, and what are taxes for if not for funding public works that will assist in economic recovery during this time of severe inflation?
What Does This Mean For What’s Next?
Having the bill pass with support from both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate was energizing. And let me be clear, ARA still very strongly opposes the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan as it is currently written. Our country cannot risk giving up energy independence and burdening future generations of taxpayers with the cost of social programs. Much of Build Back Better seems to be a wish list of solutions in search of problems. We intend to stand firm in our opposition unless major changes are made.
House and Senate majority leadership continue to push for the plan’s passage, but it appears they’re a few votes short in both chambers for now. The state and local elections held during early November appeared to be a referendum on much of the administration’s policies.
Our country needs a face-lift—one that would help ag retailers deliver products to customers. The bipartisan infrastructure package is certainly expensive, but in our opinion, it’s good policy and overdue infrastructure investment. In Washington, good policy generally makes for good politics.
