Shortly before President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, his White House showcased $17 billion in funding set aside for upgrades in U.S. port infrastructure for strengthening supply chains and boosting competitiveness.
The discrepancy between the priorities of the widely touted Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act and President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for the labor union leading the strikes raises concerns about the benefits of pouring money into infrastructure while real upgrades are being blocked by union allies.
The President of the National Taxpayers Union, Pete Sepp, told Just the News the government should claw back infrastructure funds because the union blocking real ways of boosting competitiveness.
“[The infrastructure law] included $17 billion worth of new federal money to upgrade and introduce new technologies into ports.
Now, he is now refusing to deal with a union standing in the way of efficiency-boosting automation technology where the U.S. lags behind.
“We want that $17 billion back, or at least the balance that hasn't been spent yet.” From the beginning, a provision buried deep in Biden’s signature infrastructure law catered directly to the union and its port workers and ensuring that the billions earmarked for competitiveness upgrades could not be used for any future port automation—a clear handout to the union constituency that supported Biden in 2020 and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is struggling to retain this year.
"The term 'zero-emission port equipment or technology' means human-operated equipment or human-maintained technology,” the current U.S. code reads.
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