Hillary Clinton says American roads, bridges and electricity grids are in a sorry state. The former First Lady and Democratic presidential hopeful announced a massive infrastructure plan that she says will fix potholes, repair damaged bridges and eliminate untimely blackouts across the country, as well as providing jobs for the millions of American construction workers who support her.
Hillary Clinton outlined the $275 billion infrastructure plan in Boston today, earning herself a supporter in Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. The “Hard Hats for Hillary” rally in historic Faneuil Hall was attended by hundreds of union members as well.
Influential mayor Walsh formally endorsed Hillary, expressing his support for her presidential run and his enthusiasm about putting a woman in the Oval Office.”Get your sledgehammers ready, we’ve got a glass ceiling to demolish!” he declared.
“Nobody comes closer to her experience, nobody comes closer to her achievements,” Walsh added. Among his reasons for supporting Clinton, Walsh cited her experience and proven hardiness, calling the former First Lady and senator “battle-tested”.
Walsh believes Clinton can be trusted to roll out the expensive and logistically daunting plan over five years. Hillary “gets the job done”, the mayor asserted.
Clinton to pitch infrastructure spending plan on Sunday @CNNPolitics https://t.co/xeT1tL93ad That’s kind of things Dems need to get behind.
— Moe Davis (U.S. Air Force, Retired) (@ColMorrisDavis) November 29, 2015
More details of the $275 billion infrastructure spending plan will be released later this week.
Clinton’s infrastructure plan will be fully paid for by reforms to business taxes. No details of how this will work have yet been provided.
CBS News reports that Hillary said ,
“To build a strong economy for our future, we must start by building strong infrastructure today. I don’t have to tell you what a sorry state we’re in. Our roads and bridges are potholed and crumbling. Families endure blackouts because our electric grid fails in extreme weather.”
Republicans have called the plan irresponsible and outrageously expensive, pointing out that – in total – Clinton has now proposed over $1 trillion in new spending.
Republican Michael Short went so far as to refer to Hillary’s plans as a “spending binge”.
“With Hillary Clinton’s spending binge already at a trillion dollars and counting, it’s clear she wants to treat Americans’ tax dollars like every day is Black Friday, with no plan to pay the bill.”
Hillary Clinton’s aides claim that her proposals will encourage private investment, and taxpayers will not bear the burden alone. One estimate claims $500 billion of private money will be used to rebuild damaged bridges and buildings, crumbling roads, and other infrastructure.
Clinton told the “Hard Hats” crowd that new jobs for them would be the welcome result.
“My jobs plan starts with investing in infrastructure, not just because infrastructure jobs are good-paying jobs, though they are, and not just because we desperately need to invest in building our future again, which we do, but because investing in infrastructure makes our economy more productive and competitive across the board”.
The hard hats group is made up of union workers such as electricians, carpenters and plumbers.
“I want our cities to be in the forefront of cities anywhere in the world. I want our workers to be the most competitive and productive in the world. I want us, once again, to think big and look up, beyond the horizon of what is possible in America.”
Clinton to pitch infrastructure spending plan on Sunday | Home – https://t.co/JRbV6L2N8U https://t.co/tZSJnPhNKP
— Comella (@starfirst) November 29, 2015
Observers have pointed out that the infrastructure plan is “the most significant investment, dollars-wise, of [Clinton’s] policy platform,” as reported by CNN .
Very excited to hear @HillaryClinton infrastructure plan – #infrastructure is best policy for GDP growth & jobs https://t.co/EwKNSKyUzG
— Robert Wolf (@robertwolf32) November 29, 2015
Hillary Clinton has been criticized for what some call her “complicated romance with Wall Street”
“[T]he Clinton Foundation have received from gigantic financial firms…the private speeches she has delivered to banking executives for eye-popping sums in excess of $250,000 per talk.”
Some have questioned whether Hillary truly stands with the union workers who cheered her so heartily in Boston today.
“In a country where 42% of all employees are working for $15 an hour or less and a majority of voters want a higher minimum wage, Democrats seen as too close to Wall Street risk a backlash at the polls. The populist unease was on display during the most recent presidential debate, when [Bernie] Sanders, a socialist firebrand, accused Clinton of fostering, and benefiting from, a cozy relationship with big-money interests.”
https://twitter.com/AdamSmith_USA/status/670997054618001408
Hillary Clinton wants to implement a $275 billion infrastructure plan to create jobs https://t.co/edikmjjdTw
— Insider Business (@BusinessInsider) November 30, 2015
Not everyone’s mind was on grave issues – one Boston cafe called “Dick’s Last Resort” took the opportunity to remind Hillary of the notorious antics of her husband Bill Clinton,whose dalliance with a White House intern scandalized the nineties world.
https://twitter.com/OnlyInBOS/status/671117195427098626
Will Hillary Clinton’s infrastructure plan repair America’s cities?
Apparently more women are donating to Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton https://t.co/LeQoA6KZh7
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 30, 2015
[Photo by Cheryl Senter/AP Photo]
