Follow BeltwayBlips on Twitter
Rep. DeFazio: ‘I Think Obama Is Ill-Advised By Larry Summers. Larry Summers Hates Infrastructure’
Think Progress —
Earlier this week, Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN) revealed that funding for mass transit infrastructure projects were nixed from the stimulus proposal in order to make room for tax cuts. Despite the fact that tax cuts comprise a bulky 33 percent of the stimulus (compared to only 7.5 percent for transportation infrastructure), conservatives are pressuring President Obama to include even more tax cuts in the bill.
Tonight on the Rachel Maddow Show, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) said the amount of infrastructure spending in the legislation is “not enough.” He argued that if the Republicans are recycling failed ideas of the past, “we ...
The Summers Factor
Matthew Yglesias —
Conor Clarke writes that Barack Obama should listen more closely to what Larry Summers was saying about fiscal stimulus before the election. Congressman Peter DeFazio, by contrast, says Summers is the problem:
In some ways, I think both sides are right. The decision to squeeze infrastructure spending in favor of tax cuts isn’t a great idea. And it’s made worse by the fact that the tax cuts aren’t nearly as well-targeted as Summers’ pre-election advice would have suggested. There’s some good infrastructure money in the draft I’ve seen, ...
