Letter to Senator Schumer: New Yorkers Want to Defeat the Infrastructure Scam

February 16, 2018

Dear Senator Schumer:

We strongly disapprove of the new infrastructure plan from the White House. It is the next great scam of the Trump Administration. It will cost New Yorkers money and damage our environment. The infrastructure scam:

• cuts federal support for infrastructure over the long term. That’s right — it actually shifts costs for projects to states and cities, and forces them to figure out ways to come up with the funds (such as increasing taxes). There’s nothing to support the assumption that this actually works.
• emphasizes privatization, which puts profits above people. Investors will be driven to achieve a financial return, and they will get it by charging you tolls and fees to use roads, bridges, and tunnels.
• tries to pay for itself by cutting other “unspecified” programs. In order to offset the huge cost of the plan, it’s possible that the government will keep trying to slash funds for health care, housing, or food assistance.
• will be catastrophic for the environment. It “streamlines” environmental regulations and takes away decision-making power from the EPA and permitting agencies and grants it to developers.

However, this infrastructure bill will require 60 votes in the Senate to pass. Keep all the Democrats together, and defeat the bill.

Empire State Indivisible