Only about 5% of the $819 billion stimulus package passed by the House Wednesday is dedicated to infrastructure such as highway, mass transit and rail projects, the Boston Globe reported.
The relatively low funding level has prompted some Democratic supporters to complain that transportation spending was cut by Republicans in favor of more tax cuts, and by advisers to President Obama who shifted the bill’s priorities to help get the measure passed, the paper said.
Many economists have argued that spending on infrastructure would do more to quickly create jobs and pull the country out of recession than would tax cuts or investments in healthcare and energy projects, the Globe said.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who chairs the House Transportation Committee’s highways and transit subcommittee, was reportedly angry about the reduction in transportation spending and has said that Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, “hates infrastructure,” the Globe reported.
The stimulus package aimed at aiding the ailing U.S. economy was approved 244-188, with 11 Democrats joining all 177 House Republicans in opposing it. It next moves to the Senate and would have to be reconciled between the two before becoming law.
