Let's break down the cost of the $550B Biden infrastructure combo platter bill in a way most anyone can understand. 1/
The $550B almost entirely gets appropriated over 5 years, though it takes a little longer for some of the money to actually leave federal coffers. But we are talking roughly $110B a year extra for five years. What does that mean? 2/
$110B a year is about 2% of the federal budget.
Maybe think of a 49-deck cruise ship and you added another deck, maybe.
A lot of money? YES.
A big deal. YES.
Changing the arc of the budget universe? Not really. 3/
Maybe think of a 49-deck cruise ship and you added another deck, maybe.
A lot of money? YES.
A big deal. YES.
Changing the arc of the budget universe? Not really. 3/
Let's break it down more. What is $110B a year to a regular person: Still a number too big to comprehend. 4/
The bipartisan infrastructure plan amounts to slightly less than $1 extra per American per day spent on roads, bridges, ports, airports, utilities, etc. over the next five years.
Now that's a little easier to understand, isn't it? 5/
Now that's a little easier to understand, isn't it? 5/
Also helpful to put it in context of the bigger budget picture, which is really, really large.
We're on track to spend roughly $60T or so over the next decade with roughly $45T in revenue.
This one bill affects that larger trajectory by less than 1%. 6/
We're on track to spend roughly $60T or so over the next decade with roughly $45T in revenue.
This one bill affects that larger trajectory by less than 1%. 6/
The bill also, while a bipartisan breakthrough that has eluded previous presidents, isn't a long-term fix. It's more of a 5-year patch job. Because there are no big long-term funding sources, Congress will get to do this all over again in 5 years or so. 7/
Why do some people call this a $1T package or a $1.2T package? I think @seungminkim has a good tweet on that:
https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1457094912852250626?s=208/
The delta between $550B and $1T over five years is money that would basically happen anyway largely on autopilot, like the gas tax money that is shoveled to states via formulas for roads and so on, and assorted other transpo fees/funding.
Another problem for reporters and public Congress has an extra step it sometimes does that most people don't do: Authorizing and appropriating. They are two different things, but this bill does some of both. The appropriating is the shooting-with-real-bullets variety.
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