Mullin it over: Everything but infrastructure

There’s no denying the infrastructure needs of our district. Whether it’s driving to work, getting kids to school, or stopping by the grocery store on the way home— Oklahomans are reminded daily that our crumbling roads and bridges are in desperate need of repair.

There’s also no denying this $1 trillion “infrastructure” package is not going to fix any of it.

$1 trillion sounds like a number that will show real tangible improvements here in the Second District. Sadly, this is not the case. Only $110 billion, around 10 percent, of this package, will go towards improving roads and bridges. And Oklahoma will only receive a small fraction of that money. This means roughly 90 percent will go to socialist projects and Green New Deal spending that guarantee inflation and debt for generations to come. Our children are the ones who will pay for this infrastructure bill.

Take the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) for example. This waterway generates over $4 billion a year for our state, allowing our district to act as a key player in the distribution of goods in America and across the globe. The critical backlog need has more than tripled since I have been in office from $68 million to $300 million in just 9 years. This backlog means the system has a 50-50 chance of failing at any given moment. This is true infrastructure. Our waterways are the backbone of our economy and have a massive impact not only on our state, but also on the entire Midwest.

Neglecting our infrastructure translates into real impacts on hardworking Oklahomans. Investing in infrastructure means getting from point A to point B across the district and providing constituents with the resources they need for their businesses and families to thrive.