By Joe Duffus
In the latest episode of the Drill Down podcast, host Peter Schweizer says, “A rising tide lifts all boats, and a rising politician lifts all family members.” The infrastructure bill is a great example.
This mammoth piece of legislation has something for almost everyone, but the biggest winners of all may be the politicians and the connected lobbyists that get to steer the spending, write the terms, and direct the money from this enormous handout to their friends and family.
Take West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, for example. Manchin might be the most pivotal person in Washington these days, with the Senate split 50-50 and his being the coveted swing vote on all sorts of legislation. He’s a moderate among his Democratic peers, and his vote is often needed to break ties in the Senate. Yet over time, Manchin has become more amenable to spending more for specific issues. This pattern coincided with President Biden’s appointment of his wife, Gayle Manchin, to be the federal co-chair of the federal Appalachian Regional Commission, an important political body for West Virginians. Plus, the bipartisan infrastructure deal provides a billion dollars of new funding to this commission as Gayle Manchin takes over.
Republicans also love both infrastructure and their families, too. Nineteen Republican senators voted for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
As Peter says on the podcast, in a time of deep partisan bickering, “money is the great uniter.”
Sen. Roy Blunt touted the bill for bringing more broadband access to his home state.
However, his son, Matt Blunt, the former governor of Missouri, is president of the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) which represents American automakers (Ford, General Motors, and Stallantis). The infrastructure bill directed $7.5 billion in funding towards electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the country. Public investment in EV charging stations would go a long way to maximizing these companies’ returns on EV investments.
In addition, Roy Blunt’s wife, Abigail Blunt, lobbied for Kraft Heinz Corp. Kraft Heinz is deeply concerned about the challenges at America’s southern border, which are a “risk” to their investors directly as “challenges to cross-border product distribution.” The bill contains provisions for infrastructure improvements at border crossing areas.
Senator Blunt’s daughter, Amy Blunt, also works for lobbying firm Husch Blackwell Strategies (HBS). Her firm focuses heavily on promoting public-private partnerships (P3 agreements). These would include projects pursued by state & local governments for “broadband infrastructure, water/wastewater facilities, courthouses, and mixed-use development.”
On its website the firm emphasized to its prospective Texas clients that: “Significant levels of federal funding are expected for transportation infrastructure projects that address climate change, use innovative technology, remediate legacy assets, and attract non-federal investment. As a result, we view investment in transportation infrastructure as a historic opportunity to achieve multiple goals that benefit a greater number of diverse communities in Texas.”
Lindsay Graham no family but a lot of lobbyist friends. In 2020, Graham faced a tough opponent in his re-election race. A number of Graham’s top 2020 campaign donors have lobbied for President Biden’s massive spending initiatives, including the infrastructure bill (#2 Lockheed; #5 Microsoft; #7 Comcast).
AT&T, another top donor to Graham, stood to gain from the infrastructure spending on broadband. The case was made by AT&T’s CEO who advocated for federal dollars to “bridge the digital divide.”
Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp., one of the top individual contributors to a Graham SuperPAC, sits on the board of Tesla and holds about a $1 billion stake in the company. The bipartisan infrastructure bill calls for electric vehicle charging stations and conversion of school buses to electric vehicles.
