Congresswoman
Michelle Fischbach
did not fail her district.
The letter written by Carmen Fernholz listed some good provisions from the federal infrastructure bill. If only that was all that the bill included. We should be thanking Congresswoman Fischbach for reading the bill in its entirety and considering how much the other provisions of the bill would hurt rural America.
Based on the amounts in Fernholz’s letter, only about one-third of the spending goes to actual infrastructure. The rest of the spending is for wasteful projects for big cities. Billions of dollars are included to tear down and rebuild “racist highways.” It also subsidizes electric vehicle ownership, which is a big benefit for wealthy residents of blue cities and will make traditional cars more expensive for the rest of us.
Worst of all for rural communities is a pilot program for a Vehicle Mileage Tax, a new tax that charges drivers every mile they drive. When you think about the long distances the hard-working people of western Minnesota regularly, this provision seems designed specifically to penalize rural America.
Furthermore, the bill is not paid for. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this bill will add another $367 billion to our ballooning national debt. Inflation is already hitting my family pretty hard, and this bill’s wasteful spending will continue to drive prices higher. I have never once doubted Congresswoman Fischbach’s accountability and integrity and am proud to have her representing western Minnesota.
James Meder
New London
