Elizabeth Warren Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: Pandemic a ‘Chance to Expand Our Idea’ of Infrastructure

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Thursday the Covid-19 pandemic had presented an opportunity to “expand” the meaning of infrastructure.

“We were in a crisis before the pandemic hit, it only got worse during the pandemic,” Warren said in an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. “This is our chance to expand our idea of what infrastructure means. Give women who want to work a real chance in the workplace.

“Remember, this is called a jobs bill,” Warren said. “It’s infrastructure and jobs. So as long as we’re investing in roads and bridges and lots of concrete, about 90 percent of those jobs are going to be for men. And they’re good jobs — I support that and I think that’s great. But when we’re talking about childcare, those jobs are nearly all going to women, and those jobs today pay far too little. We have a chance to turn those into good paying, professional jobs.”

President Joe Biden is asking Congress to pass his $2.6 trillion American Jobs Plan. The legislation has been dubbed an infrastructure proposal by the White House, though it includes for a wide ranging of programs. That includes $400 billion allocated to expanding Medicaid, as well as $25 million in federal funding for new or upgraded childcare facilities. The spending would come in addition to $1.8 trillion included in the American Families Plan, another proposal the White House has asked Congress to pass.

The spending has prompted some Democrats to advocate for a broad definition of “infrastructure,” including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who engaged in an exchange with CNBC’s Joe Kernen on the topic this month. “Mr. Secretary, come on,” Kernen told Buttigieg. “You might as well just tell me, ‘You know, you need those roads to drive to free college and free childcare, and therefore I want to build them.’ I mean, come on. You can’t do all of it at once!”

Buttigieg insisted the feds “abundantly do have the money” to pay for new spending.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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