ELDER: ‘Infrastructure’ Bill – Does Anyone Still Believe In The Constitution?

It’s no surprise that Democrats want an “infrastructure” bill. The depressing part is that the supposedly limited government/federalist Republicans are prepared to comply.

Sure, Republicans complain about the price tag, arguing that it’s too big, too inflationary. But as to the proposition that it’s the federal government’s role to build/repair/expand the “infrastructure” of states, there is little or no quarrel from Republicans.

During former President Donald Trump’s administration, Republicans wanted to make similar “investments” in states’ roads, bridges, waterways, etc., insisting businessman Trump would ensure a more efficient, productive use of the spending.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, voted for President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill, saying: “Every president … has tried to get the infrastructure bill done. One of those presidents is our most recent president, President Donald Trump, who pushed to pass a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill during his time in office, in his budget.”

No, not every president. Some early presidents actually followed the U.S. Constitution and insisted things like a crumbling bridge in state A is not the responsibility of taxpayers in states B through Z.

Yes, the investment-infrastructure train left the station many years ago, but it’s instructive to see how far we’ve gone down the tax-and-spend road while ignoring the constitutional principle that presidents once subscribed to. Objecting to a congressional bill to give money to French refugees, James Madison — known as the “Father of the Constitution,” and our fourth president — wrote, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”

During the presidency of James Monroe, America’s fifth president, Congress proposed a “build back better” bill to expand the Cumberland Road. Even though the expansion would go through and benefit his home state of Virginia, Monroe cast his only veto against the bill. According to Monroe’s biography on the University of Virginia’s americanpresident.org: “Although Monroe personally supported the idea of internal improvements, he balked at the federal government’s role in … a series of federally financed projects designed to improve and update the nation’s roads, bridges and canals. Monroe worried … that federal payments for such internal improvements would expand even further the power of the federal government at the sake of state power. Where would the limits be drawn?”

Today, few in Congress question whether government should spend money on infrastructure, focusing only on how much