This bill is a Socialist dream, but a fiscal nightmare! It needs to be broken up and include more specifics! As it stands, it is bound to add to the national DEBT and require a rise in TAXES! It calls for a lot of federal GRANTS, to which the warning "CAVEAT EMPTOR" always applies, IMO. The Hill points out that Sen. Sanders did not offer a funding mechanism for his proposal within the legislation, but it did observe that the introduction of this bill came while lawmakers were discussing an increase in the federal gas tax. http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/230866-sen-sanders-files-1t-infrastructure-bill And how many of you like this part of the bill: "The National Infrastructure Investment Bank would be established as a wholly-owned government corporation would help fund and manage infrastructure projects. A total of $5 billion in appropriations would be authorized for the Bank for each of fiscal years from 2015 to 2019. The Bank’s Board of Directors would be responsible for evaluating the eligibility of projects for assistance, while monitoring and overseeing infrastructure projects. This bill authorizes the Board to: * Make senior and subordinated loans and purchase debt securities;
 * Issue and sell debt the bank’s debt securities;
 * Issue public benefit bonds and provide direct subsidies to infrastructure projects from the proceeds;
 * Make loan guarantees;
 * Borrow on the global capital market and lend to regional, state, local entities, and commercial banks to fund infrastructure projects;
 * Purchase, pool, and sell infrastructure-related loans.
 All bonds issued by the Bank would be exempt from state or local government taxes, and all securities would be considered exempt securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Every project financed by the bank must comply with prevailing wage rate laws, buy [sic] American statutes, and requirements for domestic content. Compare Bernie's bill with the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–23, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000; in nine years 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 (about $547 in 2015) a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families). Principal benefits of an individual's enrollment in the CCC included improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The typical CCC enrollee was a U.S. citizen, unmarried, unemployed male, 18–25 years of age. Normally his family was on local relief. Each enrollee volunteered and, upon passing a physical exam and/or a period of conditioning, was required to serve a minimum six-month period with the option to serve as many as four periods, or up to two years, if employment outside the Corps was not possible. Enrollees worked 40 hours a week over five days, sometimes including Saturdays if poor weather dictated. In return they received $30 a month with a compulsory allotment $22–25 sent to a family dependant, as well as food, clothing, and medical care. Following the second Bonus Army march on Washington D.C., President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6129 (May 11, 1933) to amend the CCC program, to include work opportunities for veterans. Veteran qualifications differed from the junior enrollee; one needed to be certified by the Veterans Administration by application. They could be any age, and married or single as long as they were in need of work. Veterans were generally assigned to entire veteran camps. The CCC performed 300 possible types of work projects within ten approved general classifications: 1. Structural improvements: bridges, fire lookout towers, service buildings 2. Transportation: truck trails, minor roads, foot trails and airport landing fields 3. Erosion control: check dams, terracing and vegetable covering 4. Flood control: irrigation, drainage, dams, ditching, channel work, riprapping 5. Forest culture: planting trees and shrubs, timber stand improvement, seed collection, nursery work 6. Forest protection: fire prevention, fire pre-suppression, firefighting, insect and disease control 7. Landscape and recreation: public camp and picnic ground development, lake and pond site clearing and development 8. Range: stock driveways, elimination of predatory animals 9. Wildlife: stream improvement, fish stocking, food and cover planting 10. Miscellaneous: emergency work, surveys, mosquito control https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps Now back to Bernie's bill: It is not all bad. Heaven knows our AGING INFRASTRUCTURE needs improvements! One thing that concerns me is that it says nothing about PROTECTING OUR NATIONAL ELECTRICAL GRID AGAINST AN EMP ATTACK! I cannot emphasize strongly enough how stupid and suicidal it would be to not prepare for such an attack! Aging dams and bridges need to be taken care of, also! It does call for funding the Army Corps of Engineers for inland waterways projects, coastal harbors and channels, inland harbors, in addition to dams and levees; the pre-disaster hazard mitigation program for minor localized flood reduction projects and major flood risk reduction projects; and improving the electric grid.