White House Plans to Tie Infrastructure to a Tax Overhaul

Obama administration officials on Wednesday defended President Barack Obama’s message from Tuesday night, in particular his call for new infrastructure spending. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew expanded on a proposal to pay for infrastructure repairs with revenue from a tax overhaul. He did not say precisely where that revenue would come from, but suggested the administration’s plan is similar to one last year by former Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) that would have used $126.5 billion in revenue from a tax overhaul to pay for projects. Lew said it would be unwise to use that one-time infusion to fund recurring costs or provide permanent tax cuts. Instead, he said it would make more sense to funnel that money into one-time infrastructure projects.