ICYMI: Pappas slammed by Union Leader Editorial Board over frivolous infrastructure spending plans
The New Hampshire Union Leader Editorial Board is attacking Chris Pappas over his support for publicly-funded and exorbitantly expensive passenger trains to Boston as part of Democrats’ latest “infrastructure” plan.
The editorial board notes that the commuter rail would be a waste of money at the expense of real infrastructure needs, like “roads and bridges in definite need of repair,” especially taking into consideration a study that says commuter rail traffic is likely to dwindle.
But Pappas has never met a spending bill he didn’t like – even when it means prioritizing superfluous projects over things Granite Staters actually need.
In case you missed it…
EDITORIAL: All Aboard: The Chris Pappas Special
The New Hampshire Union Leader Editorial Board
July 16, 2021
U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas is among the politicians touting expensive passenger trains to Boston as another way to spend public dollars in the latest “infrastructure” plan. It is hard to keep track of how many spending bills he has signed onto. This one is for $760 billion.
With many roads and bridges in definite need of repair, wasting any of these dollars on heavily-subsidized commuter rail offers a particularly lousy bang for the citizen’s buck.
They probably won’t do so, but it would be instructive for Pappas and his congressional pals to digest the results of a new study that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker commissioned this year. Baker, a Republican who often makes sense, wanted to know what long-range effects the COVID-19 pandemic was likely to have in his state.
One point ought to be of especial interest to Granite Staters. The study said that commuter traffic, particularly commuter rail traffic, may fall from 15 to 50 percent. That’s because fewer people and their companies are going to travel to their offices on a daily basis. Instead, they will telecommute.
The study also said more people are likely to look for work closer to home as well. That could benefit New Hampshire, which is hungry for workers and finds a lot of them currently work for Mass. firms. With the Bay State intent on taxing them no matter where they reside, many may find working closer to home is beneficial in several ways.
That would mean even fewer riders for the Pappas Express.