ROAD BILLS
My latest NYT column looks at a question politicians and pundits don't ask but should:
Congress and the White House are wrangling over how much the federal government should spend on highways.The White House proposed a $256 billion budget for roads, bridges and transit over the next six years. (The previous six-year measure, which expired last year, cost $218 billion.) The House passed a $284 billion version, while the Senate further upped the ante to $318 billion. The White House threatens to veto those amounts as too lavish.
To political analysts, the highway bill is a popular program that has fallen prey to partisan, and intraparty, bickering. Lost in the dispute is the economic question: What are we getting for our money?
Find out here.