Most of what we hear about Washington these days is how dysfunctional it is, and the reputation is well earned. We are in an era when political power and absolutist ideology have become far more important to prominent politicians than actually passing legislation that might prove helpful to the American people.
But there is a more nuanced side to the story. Important things still happen in Washington, and many members of Congress actually do want to get something done for their country rather than their political party.
Among those pieces of legislation is a little noticed bill that Sen. John Cornyn and a Democratic colleague introduced recently that soared through the body on unanimous consent. The bill would give states much more flexibility in how to spend funds the federal government provided under the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan.
Billions of dollars went unused, as states didn’t have enough places to put money that was intended for pandemic relief.
Under the bill Cornyn co-sponsored with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., eligible governmental entities could spend the greater of $10 million or 30% of their unspent relief funding on infrastructure, disaster relief, housing, community development and other matters.
In Texas, that amounts to $9.6 billion in funds that could be redirected to projects that can lift up communities. In California, it’s $14.5 billion.
Across the country, tens of billions of dollars that might be misdirected toward unnecessary spending on anything the states can label as COVID-19 relief could instead be spent on bridges, roads, carbon reduction programs and a host of other things the nation needs.
We have supported the Biden administration’s plan to spend more than $1 trillion on restoring American infrastructure, even as we have raised concerns about the president’s much larger and nebulous spending package.
As things stand, the infrastructure bill, which has bipartisan support, is bogged down with progressives’ demand that it’s all or nothing.
We hope that Cornyn’s more modest, commonsense bill doesn’t fall victim to the same fate. There is no state in the union that couldn’t put some of the COVID-19 relief money to better use now. Every senator, Republican or Democrat, recognizes that. Will the House have the sense to let good legislation happen?
We can’t say we are optimistic it will happen. We can only say it needs to happen.