Infrastructure Arithmetic

Randal O'TooleDepending on what you read, the White House and Senate Republican leaders have either compromised on a$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill or a$579 billion infrastructure bill. Actually, both are true, sort of.The difference is that the $1.2 trillion includes “baseline spending,” or the amount that would have been spent on infrastructure even if no bill were passed. The actual infrastructure bill would only include $579 billion of new spending.That ’s quite a concession on the part of the White House, which hadoriginally proposed $2.3 trillion in new spending, or nearly four times as much as the bipartisan agreement. On the other hand, $579 billion is exactly $579 billion more than Republicans had proposed to spend before Biden released his original proposal on March 31.At the same time, the so ‐​called baseline appears to represent the amount that would be spent on surface transportation by thebill proposed by House Democrats, or about $78 billion a year. This is a large increase from the amount that has been spent in the past few years, which has been about $55 billion a year. In order to get the total above $1 trillion, allowing the president to save some face, the $78 billion a year is extended for eight years, even though the House bill would authorize only five years of spending.So, in agreeing to the $1.2 trillion price tag, did Senate Republicans effectively agree to support the House bill? That bill proposes to spend...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs