WASHINGTON—Today, President Biden proposed to cut his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan to $1.7 trillion in what Democrats are claiming is an attempt at bipartisanship. David Ditch, Heritage policy analyst for the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, released a statement on this supposed compromise:

 

“While reducing the size of the ‘infrastructure’ proposal is a step in the right direction, the $1.7 trillion amount is still troubling. The plan promotes a radical left-wing agenda with provisions like an expansion of government health care, elements of the Green New Deal, prioritizing Amtrak and mass transit over roads and bridges, and giving wealthy households a bigger tax write-off for buying electric vehicles.

 

“The Biden administration would still fund the plan with a job-killing tax hike on businesses just as we're recovering from the pandemic recession. Further, such a large increase in federal spending would mean taking more power from the private sector and state and local governments, and transferring that power to the dysfunctional swamp in Washington.

 

“Americans have seen firsthand that Congress can't properly manage or oversee the federal government we have today, and last thing we should do is put Congress in charge of even more aspects of our lives.”

 

The price tag for the proposal remains concerning coming on the heels of Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which had little to do with pandemic-related funding. Similarly, the American Jobs Plan includes massive amounts of spending that have nothing to do with infrastructure.

President Biden has chosen to warp the concept of “infrastructure” far beyond its traditional parameters to expand the federal domain at a great cost to taxpayers. Congress should employ a “fix it first” focus on existing infrastructure, reform federal permitting rules, and give states more flexibility for their infrastructure.

For more on the problems of Biden’s “infrastructure” proposal, read David Ditch’s recent analysis.