Fair criticism. But structurally the Fed Gov is fairly limited in this regard. Where the Fed can exercise power over the States is to withhold funding that the States need/want in order to push through some change (highway speed limits for example). But you can't force States to spend money on something they don't already have, so there isn't much leverage other than making the funding available and hoping that the States will take it the rest of the way.
The EV station rollout is similar -- Congress allocated a bunch of money, but they can't force States to come up with plans and the States have taken a long time to do so (of course these things take time anyway). And now the money is being taken away -- missed opportunity. But not sure what else Congress could have done?
The highway system must have been done somehow. I don't know the details but there has to be lots of ways to ensure these things get done. Maybe it's lack of political will or maybe it's loss of people who know how to get these things done.
Right. But the highway system was something that greatly benefited the States themselves as it provided them with new roads stimulating their local economy and creating a great number of jobs (to build the roads). But the States weren't forced to do so, and it took 35 years (I didn't know that until I looked it up[0]). Heat pumps benefit consumers, and climate change, but there's probably less incentive for States to push the program, especially if they don't really care about climate change anyway.
Yeah, these things are true, but I think that needs to be baked into the calculus on these bills: getting them passed isn't even half the battle - if you don't have an answer for how to get the money down to the ground, the law's just an interesting piece of paper.
On the one hand, fixing the dysfunction at the state level is, you're right, outside the purview of the Feds - although when the Democratic governor and Democratic legislature of a state and the Democratic mayors and city councils of the city are where the money's stopped, I think that's still a rock you can throw at the Democratic party.
I also think there's still a belief (fading, thank god) among the Democrats that if they do the right thing and the Republicans stymie them, they'll get credit and the Republicans will lose face (call this the Obama theory of polite governance). At the end of the day, passing bills that get blocked by the opposition doesn't show people your virtues, it shows them your inability to get things done.
The EV station rollout is similar -- Congress allocated a bunch of money, but they can't force States to come up with plans and the States have taken a long time to do so (of course these things take time anyway). And now the money is being taken away -- missed opportunity. But not sure what else Congress could have done?