LETTER: The debate over what constitutes “infrastructure”
As President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party push a multitrillion-dollar taxpayer-funded infrastructure bill, the two parties can’t agree on what is and isn’t infrastructure. The Republicans have a conventional definition — roads, bridges, tunnels, air and seaports, pipelines and other physical assets. Democrats have a more expansive view — everything the Republicans want plus everything else imaginable: energy grids, health care, social welfare, government assistance, undocumented immigrants, wifi and more.
If the two parties can’t agree on the basics, the bill is doomed before it begins. Here’s my suggestion for common ground: Depreciation. If it can be depreciated, then it’s infrastructure.
Maybe, that’s the solution to political agreement. Worth trying.