The White House says the American people should expect an “evolving” definition of infrastructure to be used as it prepares a $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
President Biden’s press secretary made the comment Wednesday while New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand offered her own take on the issue.
“Paid leave is infrastructure,” the Democrat tweeted. “Child care is infrastructure. Caregiving is infrastructure.”
Similarly, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters to expect far more than roads, bridges, power plants, and other self-evident forms of infrastructure to find their way into the bill.
“Our view, his view, is we just don’t fix what is broken today,” she said. “We build for tomorrow and his idea of infrastructure is evolving. It should evolve to address the needs of the American people.”
Paid leave is infrastructure.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) April 7, 2021
Child care is infrastructure.
Caregiving is infrastructure.
Critics of Ms. Gillibrand’s tweet sided with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent call for a “serious, targeted infrastructure plan.”
Some responses to the Democrat’s tweet include:
- “How can you be this wrong? Literally, none of those things are [sic] infrastructure. You’re an embarrassment to the office when you can’t accurately define infrastructure items.”
- “Wrong — these are benefits. Infrastructure is something buildable — highways, roads, utilities — things that all Americans can use. How are you a Senator?”
- “When you say s—t like this, it gives men permission to say women are stupid. Those things aren’t infrastructure.”
- “Words no longer have meaning.”
Allahpundit of the conservative blog Hotair added that it was a “quintessentially Gillibrandian tweet [that] … only a strident progressive activist could take seriously.”
“There would be bipartisan support for a smart proposal,” Mr. McConnell’s added last week. “Unfortunately, the latest liberal wish-list the White House has decided to label ‘infrastructure’ is a major missed opportunity by this administration.”
Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Biden’s non-infrastructure bill: “his idea of infrastructure is evolving”https://t.co/3TMIZ5JdqP pic.twitter.com/mdYHbYbQgy
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 7, 2021
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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