Mondays with Mike: A funny thing happened over the past two years

The circus that American politics has become recalls one of my favorite George Carlin quotes: “When you’re born into this world, you get tickets to the freak show. If you’re born in America, you get front row seats.”

But a funny thing has happened over the past two years. The Biden administration has accomplished a lot. I voted for him, but even I—who prides myself on staying up to date—was surprised when a politically savvy friend forwarded an opinion piece to me that enumerated some pretty big wins after years/decades of congressional gridlock on stuff like infrastructure. (Remember infrastructure week? It was infrastructure weak.)

Here’s a list of the major bills that the writer, Art Friedson, enumerated:

The American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will funnel billions to states and local governments to upgrade outdated roads, bridges, and transit systems.

The CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to bring chip manufacturing back on shore and bolster research to regain technological supremacy vis-à-vis China.

The gun safety bill was a small step—but it was a step—after decades of inaction.

And most recently, probably nearest and dearest to my heart, is the poorly named Inflation Reduction Act. Poorly because it’s as much about reducing addressing climate change as inflation.

In my day job, reducing carbon in the built environment is our mission. I hang with a lot of knowledgeable people. And people who know think this bill, as Biden reminded Obama, is a big deal. It’s long overdue, but again, after eons of inaction, it’s a giant step forward. It involved compromise with Senator Joe Manchin—but it’s a net win. (And, in fact, we simply can’t switch off fossil fuel, even if we’d like to.)

Full disclosure: The bill promises to be good for my organization. Here’s a rundown from a Phius policy expert on how it may affect us and our constituents.

I’ll end with this quote from the same piece by Friedson. It’s from Stuart Steven, a former Republican strategist:

“Republicans had years to pass an alternative to Obamacare. Never did it. Republicans had years to pass an infrastructure bill. Never did it. 

Governing isn’t attacking the other side, it’s getting sh*t done.”