{"id":518609,"date":"2021-05-17T16:36:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T20:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=518609"},"modified":"2021-05-17T16:36:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T20:36:23","slug":"why-is-everything-infastructure-cnbc-host-grills-pete-buttigieg-on-american-jobs-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-is-everything-infastructure-cnbc-host-grills-pete-buttigieg-on-american-jobs-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Why Is Everything Infastructure?\u2018: CNBC Host Grills Pete Buttigieg On American Jobs Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-is-everything-infastructure-cnbc-host-grills-pete-buttigieg-on-american-jobs-plan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=518609&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1160490634.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><em>This is the first in a new \u2014 and, we assume, irregular \u2014 series of articles that applaud members of the legacy media when they exhibit the curiosity, skepticism, or objectivity traditionally associated with journalists<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg experienced an unfamiliar degree of scrutiny when he stopped by CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box\u201d to promote President Joe Biden\u2019s American Jobs Plan last week.<\/p>\n<p>When host Joe Kernen pressed Buttigieg on the administration\u2019s audacious redefinition of the word \u201cinfrastructure,\u201d CNBC committed a rare act of journalism.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden-Harris administration has promoted the administrations multi-trillion-dollar plan as an infrastructure bill, due to the bipartisan popularity of rebuilding America\u2019s roads and bridges. In reality, the bill contains a host of new government spending that is completely unrelated to transportation, including hundreds of billions of dollars for long-term care for the elderly and taxpayer subsidized childcare.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/AJP-Racial-Equity-Fact-Sheet-FINAL.pdf\">explainer<\/a> posted on the official White House website boasts of how the \u201cinfrastructure\u201d plan will further \u201cracial equity\u201d through such programs as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cInvest[ing] in clean energy to advance climate justice and mitigate the disparate impacts of pollution on communities of color\u201d;<\/li>\n<li>\u201c$213 billion to produce, preserve, and retrofit more than two million affordable and sustainable places to live\u201d in minority communities;<\/li>\n<li>\u201c$100 billion in workforce development programs targeted at underserved communities\u201d;<\/li>\n<li>\u201c$5 billion over 8 years\u201d to combat \u201cgun violence\u201d; and<\/li>\n<li>unspecified funding for \u201cthe creation of a new national lab focused on climate that will be affiliated with an\u201d Historically Black College or University (HBCU)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) encapsulated the newly capacious definition of \u201cinfrastructure\u201d when she wrote the widely ridiculed <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenGillibrand\/status\/1379773312482607106\">tweet<\/a>: \u201cPaid leave is infrastructure. Child care is infrastructure. Caregiving is infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"7.2571428571429\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Paid leave is infrastructure.<br \/>Child care is infrastructure.<br \/>Caregiving is infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenGillibrand\/status\/1379773312482607106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 7, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>To his credit, Kernen probed the misuse of language with Buttigieg on May 13.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re proposing a usage for the word \u2018infrastructure\u2019 that Republicans would say includes every wish list for the Democratic Party going back 50 years,\u201d Kernen told the secretary.<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg attempted to defend these \u201cother, broader forms of infrastructure\u201d on the grounds that \u201c[t]hey\u2019re all part of the foundation that makes it possible for us to live well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cButtigieg flailed again and offered up a weird corporate-sounding word salad,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/cnbc-host-takes-buttigieg-to-task-over-bidens-everything-is-infrastructure-argument\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0Becket Adams at the <em>Washington Examiner.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kernen responded, \u201cMr. Secretary, you might as well tell me, \u2018You know, you need those roads to drive to free college and free childcare and, therefore, I want to build them.\u2019 So, I mean, come on, come on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t make that jump to \u2018everything under the sun is infrastructure and we should spend $100 trillion and give everything to everyone, because that\u2019s what their life is,\u2019\u201d Kernen added. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the money. We don\u2019t have the wherewithal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buttigieg insisted money was no concern. \u201cWe do have the money; that\u2019s the thing,\u201d he insisted. \u201cWe abundantly do have the money, because the bill is paid for, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Buttigieg\u2019s words are deliberately misleading. The American Jobs Plan is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/how-the-white-house-is-hiding-the-true-cost-of-its-spending-plans\">riddled<\/a> with accounting gimmicks to minimize its cost and make believe it is \u201crevenue neutral.\u201d The American Jobs Plan\u2019s estimated $2.2 trillion price tag only accounts for eight years of spending. Biden says he will offset this by raising the corporate tax to 28% \u2014 leaving the U.S. with one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/taxfoundation.org\/higher-corporate-tax-revenues-lower-tax-rates\/\">highest rates<\/a> in the developed world \u2014 and claims it will bring in $2.5 trillion \u2026 but that estimate is over <em>15 <\/em>years. Clearly, the bill will add to the $28 trillion national debt even under the best circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>The segment marks some of the toughest questioning Buttigieg has experienced since he stepped up his media presence to promote Biden\u2019s spending bill. He was lead guest on Friday evening\u2019s episode of MSNBC\u2019s \u201cThe ReidOut,\u201d with Joy Reid; Reid\u2019s final guest of the night blamed this week\u2019s deadly Israeli-Gaza conflict on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/c0580307-0711-45cd-867b-888959cfc542\/Mr.%20Secretary,%20you%20might%20as%20well%20tell%20me,%20you%20know,%20you%20need%20those%20roads%20to%20drive%20to%20free%20college%20and%20free%20child%20care%20and%20therefore%20I%20want%20to%20build%20them,%20so%20I%20mean,%20come%20on.%20Come%20on.\">Jewish supremacy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rather than explaining the bill\u2019s contents to the American people, much of the media\u2019s coverage has often amounted to little more than extended PR. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/biden-infrastructure-plan-2-trillion\/\">CBS News<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/05\/01\/992679650\/biden-announced-ambitious-plans-for-u-s-in-address-to-congress\">NPR<\/a> described it as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/biden-infrastructure-plan-2-trillion\/\">ambitious<\/a>,\u201d while ABC News called it \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/amp.abcnews.com\/WNT\/video\/bidens-massively-ambitious-expensive-infrastructure-plan-76776158\">massively ambitious<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For pushing back against attempts to gaslight the American public about the meaning of commonly accepted words and phrases, Joe Kernen and CNBC deserve our gratitude.<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the first in a new \u2014 and, we assume, irregular \u2014 series of articles that applaud members of the legacy media when they exhibit the curiosity, skepticism, or &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278353,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1160490634.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Why Is Everything Infastructure?\u2018: CNBC Host Grills Pete Buttigieg On American Jobs Plan","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-518609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-1160490634.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Why Is Everything Infastructure?\u2018: CNBC Host Grills Pete Buttigieg On American Jobs Plan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}