News & Resources / Infrastructure Spending Off to a Slow Start

Infrastructure Spending Off to a Slow Start

Taxpayers Are Getting a Bad Return

In 2021, President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package into law that was intended to improve the country’s roads, bridges, waterways, airports, and rail systems. But fast-forward nearly three years and the White House is off to a slow start.

The spending bill delivered roughly $450 billion to states across more than 50,000 projects. But of the ten highway and bridge construction plans—which involved the biggest budgets—only one has broken ground. The others remain in early stages of development and are wrapped up in government red tape, according to reporting from the Daily Caller. 

The legislation also allocated more than $7 billion to build out a network of electric vehicle charging stations. But in a recent deer-in-the-headlights moment on CBS News, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had to explain away shortcomings on this front as well. 

While the goal is to erect half a million chargers by the end of the decade, only “seven or eight” have been completed. 

Thus far, American taxpayers have received a bad return on their infrastructure investment. If Biden is re-elected in November, will projects move into overdrive or will the money continue to waste away? Time will tell.