A populist proposal to auction off distressed federal government assets, such as loans, to pay for infrastructure and other policy priorities for working-class Americans is gaining renewed interest ahead of former President Donald Trump’s return to the White House next week.
Back in Trump’s first term in office, a bipartisan group of congressmen—Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and then-Reps. Ted Budd (R-NC) and William Lacy Clay (D-MO)—introduced a plan called the Generating American Income and Infrastructure Act. The so-called GAIIN Act, for short, even won the support of then-President Trump according to an interview Kelly did with Breitbart News in 2018. But, as Trump’s bipartisan efforts stalled out when Democrats went after him later that year with bogus impeachment charges, the proposal similarly lost steam. Now that Trump is returning to the White House with a massive refreshed working-class coalition across racial demographics, though, the idea is getting fresh consideration from top members of Congress and power players in Washington. In addition, these members that were originally on board with the idea have moved up in a big way since 2018. Kelly is now the chairman of a powerful subcommittee on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Budd is now in the U.S. Senate. And this idea is getting burgeoning support from top lawmakers beyond the original 2018 cosponsors.
Support authors and subscribe to content
This is premium stuff. Subscribe to read the entire article.
