When it came to questioning Sec. Pete Buttigieg, "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace was not fooling around. The interview from Sunday focused on the so-called infrastructure bill, which, if we're being honest, is really a spending bill by any other name.
Wallace called out, early on in the exchange, the talking point that the United States ranks poorly when it comes to our infrastructure. As NewsBuster's Nicholas Fondacaro highlighted:
You all like to say that U.S. infrastructure is ranked 13th in the world, but our colleague Chuck Layne of The Washington Post did some interesting research, three of the nations ahead of us on that list are Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates, which are tiny states and hardly comparable. Of the ten largest countries geographically, including China and Russia, the U.S. actually ranks first.
“So secretary, not to say that everything is fine, but why not be straight about the actual conditions here in the U.S. to the American people,” Wallace pressed.
Buttigieg refused to address why the administration was manipulating the facts. Instead, he simply argued that “the American people already know that our infrastructure needs a lot of work.”
Um, okay. It sounds to me that Sec. Buttigieg just didn't know what to say to that.
Fondacaro highlighted another particular exchange in which Wallace called the transportation secretary out. "Again, Secretary Buttigieg, why mislead folks," Wallace asked. The host even got Buttigieg, to both their credit, to say he "should have been more precise" when it comes to how many jobs would be created. Nevertheless, Wallace still wasn't letting him off the hook as he stepped in to correct him.
Wallace: I want to give you another fact-check. All of you in the Biden administration have been selling this plan as a huge job's creator. Here you are just last Sunday.
Buttigieg: The American jobs plan is about a generational investment. It's going to create 19 million jobs and we’re talking about economic growth that's going to go on for years and years.
Wallace: But it turns out the study you are citing from Moody's Analytics says the economy will add 16.3 million jobs without the infrastructure bill and 2.7 million more with it. So it doesn't, as you said last Sunday, create 19 million jobs.
And then moments later in the interview:
Wallace: But would you agree that you and the President and Brian Deese, the economic advisor on this program last week, you all exaggerated the jobs impact?
Buttigieg: Look, there are a lot of different analyses about just how many million jobs this is going to create. I saw Georgetown study, I think it said an investment of this type will save or create --
Wallace: But Secretary, you're the one who cited Moody's analytics as 19 million and it's actually 2.7 million, which is a bunch, but it's not what you said.
The "infrastructure" plan has also been highlighted and criticized for how much it actually has to do with infrastructure. Spoiler alert: it's not much. It's 6 percent of $2 trillion, with a T.
Sadly, this is a pattern put forth by Democrats and the Biden administration. Only 20 percent of the COVID 'relief' bill only went to relevant concerns, as pointed out in a statement by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), the one Democrat who voted against the legislation. "In reviewing the bill in its full scope, less than 20 percent of the total spending addresses core COVID challenges that are immediately pressing..." he said in part. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) put the figure at even less, 9 percent.
Dear Democrats:
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) February 25, 2021
Stop calling it a "COVID Relief" plan. A better name would be "The Pelosi Payoff." pic.twitter.com/YLEwvbakJE
Proponents of the infrastructure bill have also been criticized far and wide for expanding the scope of the word, most notably by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)'s tweet. Leah showcases some of the particularly hilarious criticisms here, as well as further lays out issues with the bill.
Paid leave is infrastructure.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) April 7, 2021
Child care is infrastructure.
Caregiving is infrastructure.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed her support for these proposals when pressed by host Margaret Brennan on Sunday's "Face the Nation," though was unable to give a date on them.