Testimony Before the House Committee on Education & Labor

Brian Riedl testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education & Labor in a hearing entitled, "Building Back Better: Investing in Improving Schools, Creating Jobs, and Strengthening Families and our Economy."

Good morning Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Foxx, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me to participate in today’s hearing.

My name is Brian Riedl. I am a Senior Fellow in Budget, Tax, & Economic Policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. The views I express in this testimony are my own, and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Manhattan Institute.

My testimony today will critique President Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposal with four main points:

1) The $2.6 trillion cost – what would be the most expensive non-emergency law in half of a century – is fiscally irresponsible given America’s daunting federal budget outlook.

2) America’s main infrastructure policy challenge is not funding, but rather the slow, bureaucratic, highcost implementation of the policies. Spending another $1 trillion without making these programs more effective is a poor use of taxpayer dollars.

3) Despite the title of “American Jobs Plan,” there is a broad economic consensus that infrastructure policies do not provide short-term stimulus, and most new construction jobs are redistributed from other jobs.

4) The American Jobs Plan includes a historic expansion of corporate grants, loans, and contracts with little-to-no Congressional oversight. Federal micromanagement of innovation and research is the wrong approach

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Brian M. Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here