The GOP's new definition of infrastructure erases rail, pipes and history Republicans are trying to brand President Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan with a new talking point, claiming there is barely any infrastructure in it. Different variations of this GOP claim have begun to surface since Biden unveiled his proposal last week. One of them takes the cake. In a Fox News Radio interview, Russ Vought, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Donald Trump, said only 5 to 7 percent of the Biden plan "is actual roads and bridges and ports and things that you and I would say is real infrastructure." Granted, the president's infrastructure proposal includes large expenses such as $400 billion to expand home-care services and more than $100 billion in electric-vehicle incentives and purchases, among many other items that are not concrete-and-steel structures for transportation, or wires and pipes for utilities. Depending on how you count, about one-quarter to half of Biden's $2.3 trillion proposal could be described as traditional infrastructure. But Vought is not even counting items that Trump and his administration considered infrastructure, such as rail and water systems. Last we checked, commuters and travelers were still using railways, and pipes were still a necessity for running water. Vought earned Three Pinocchios. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Fact-checking Biden's job projections It's infrastructure week for this newsletter. Biden claimed of his $2.3 trillion proposal: "Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs — good jobs, blue-collar jobs, jobs that pay well." The forecast comes from Moody's Analytics, an economic research firm. But the Moody's analysis is clear that most of those 19 million jobs (15.65 million) would be created without any policy changes from the government. All told, as a result of the infrastructure plan, almost 2.7 million additional jobs would be created over 10 years, according to Moody's economist Mark Zandi. Note how Biden carefully does not say the infrastructure plan would create 19 million jobs; instead, he says the economy would create that many jobs if the plan was passed. Still, the president earned Two Pinocchios. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
Email 
No comments:
Post a Comment