Does WH Budget Really Pay for Infrastructure?
Suzy Khimm reports:
While President Obama's proposed budget cuts have ruffled some liberal feathers, his budget blueprint calls for a huge increase in spending in that ever-so-sexy realm of transportation infrastructure—some $556 billion worth of new projects. This proposal, following on one of his State of the Union bullet points, sets the stage for a massive budget fight. Thus far, Obama has given little indication of how he might pay for it. The most likely sources of funding are politically hairy at best, and dead ends at worst.
The six-year plan would raise transportation spending by a whopping 60 percent over Obama's previous budget. Among other things, it includes $8 billion for high-speed rail and $30 billion for an infrastructure bank to help private investors fund their projects. In a recent White House budget meeting, administration officials promised that the new spending would be paid for. That's according to Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), who attended the meeting.
But in Obama's budget, "there is still a delta in terms of financing," says Deron Lovaas, federal transportation policy director for the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC). "You do have to generate new revenue somehow—whether dealing with taxes or fees."
