by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Bizarre weather in the U.S. state of Texas underscores the need for a major infrastructure upgrade in the United States.
Recent days have seen a usually warm state of Texas experience sub-freezing temperatures and snow, which is not equipped for such weather.
This caused blackouts, burst pipes in houses and apartment buildings, and at least 58 deaths, U.S. media reported.
The situation in Texas is getting worse, amid record-breaking low temperatures that are wreaking havoc with electricity grids that are not tooled for such drastic drops in temperature.
That is why U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking to pass a major infrastructure overhaul.
"Biden is considering a 1.5 trillion-dollar infrastructure package that would include money for highways, bridges, dams, and digital infrastructure," Darrell West, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.
"It would seek to position the U.S. for long-term economic performance," West said.
Infrastructure bills tend to be bipartisan because every state and congressional district benefits from the funding. The only complicated piece is its funding. Yet with interest rates near zero, it is an ideal time to invest in infrastructure, West added.
Experts said the United States is badly in need of an infrastructure upgrade, as states like Texas are grossly unprepared for sudden temperature swings that could be triggered by climate change.
Biden on Wednesday met with labor leaders at the White House in a bid to push his proposed 1.9 trillion-U.S.-dollar COVID-19 stimulus package, as well as plans to boost the nation's infrastructure.
"The labor leaders underscored a shared commitment to collaborating and coordinating with the federal government to ensure we build back better after this pandemic and that the future of America is made in America, by American workers," the White House said in a statement.
Biden said that the world's largest economy was "far behind the curve" on infrastructure, arguing that the nation has an opportunity to boost the middle-class, create good jobs and make the nation more competitive.
But some experts said Washington needs to think not only about an infrastructure package, but also about one that has a chance of coming to fruition.
"Generations have passed since our nation took a step back and thought hard about how the federal government can best partner with state and local governments to deliver world-class infrastructure," Brookings Institution Nonresident Senior Fellow DJ Gribbin argued on the think tank's website.
However, advocating for 1 trillion or 2 trillion dollars in new spending without thoughtfully exploring how those investments will be used and the federal government's role will likely "lead to another infrastructure plan unable to garner the support needed to pass Congress," Gribbin said.
Indeed, the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to pass an infrastructure package, but Republicans and Democrats could not agree on a price tag, amid an exacerbated period of partisan rancor in Washington.
The current partisan divide has developed over several decades, intensified under Trump and will likely continue for the foreseeable future. The divide between the two sides is deep, and reflects a deeper divergence in the U.S. society that has been brewing for years. That made it difficult in the previous administration to pass an infrastructure package.
Christopher Galdieri, an assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua that Biden will have to make clear that infrastructure is a priority, and that he wants a bill passed and will work with members of Congress to get it done.
Trump, by contrast, was unable to make it something Congress care about. Former President Barack Obama, after 2010, also faced a Republican House that had no interest in a big infrastructure bill.
"Biden has a Democratic Congress with bare majorities. A big infrastructure bill is likely to appeal to members who want to give voters a reason to re-elect them in 2022," Galdieri said.
"The big obstacles are time -- can this get passed before everyone's focus turns to 2022? And if it passes, how quickly can projects get underway?" Galdieri said.
"I think the Biden team knows that it has a huge challenge in terms of endowing new and cleaner and greener public infrastructure. The infrastructure in this country has broken down," Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"Mr. Biden knows that public infrastructure is a very pressing need, that the U.S. has a very strong deficiency in infrastructure, (and) that the corporate sector is not capable of making long horizon investments in infrastructure...I'm hoping this time around that idea of an infrastructure investment bank, which builds back better, builds back cleaner and greener will take shape," said Gupta.
The United States had thought in the Obama administration of having a national infrastructure investment bank, which would "provide a kind of a seed money, which will match public and private financing in the area of infrastructure," Gupta said. Enditem
(Xinhua correspondent in Washington Yang Shilong contributed to the story.)
