Tax the deadbeats, fix the bridges
The problem is traceable in part to the ideological gridlock in Congress. Natch.
As one transportation expert told ABC News the other day, "Infrastructure has always been non-partisan, [but] the reason it's contentious in Washington is because morning prayers are contentious in Washington."
The 18-cent federal gas tax, which pays for interstate transportation repairs, hasn't been raised in
20 years — because Republican politicians are beholden to their conservative base, and Democratic politicians are terrified of being tarred as tax-raisers.
That's a shame, because the American Society of Civil Engineers says in a new report that we need another $8 billion a year to repair and upgrade our deficient bridges. (To put that seemingly high figure in perspective: During the George W. Bush era, congressional Republicans sat mute while Bush waged his farcical war in Iraq by spending an average of $10 billion each month.)