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Sixty percent of state and local investment in transportation and water infrastructure is financed using tools that impose costs on the federal government: tax-exempt bonds, tax credit bonds, state banks, and direct federal credit programs.
Sixty percent of state and local investment in transportation and water infrastructure is financed using tools that impose costs on the federal government: tax-exempt bonds, tax credit bonds, state banks, and direct federal credit programs.
In 2017, spending by federal, state, and local governments for transportation and water infrastructure totaled $441 billion. This slide deck updates information that CBO released in 2015.
Last month, Members of Congress asked CBO about budgetary and economic issues related to infrastructure and investment. This blog post provides additional information about those issues and highlights some of CBO’s related work.
Scanning and imaging all U.S.-bound shipping containers at overseas ports would cost $12 billion to $32 billion over 10 years, CBO estimates. Boosting the number of containers imaged at U.S. ports instead would cost considerably less.
Federal spending on highways does not correspond very well with how the roads are used. CBO examines three approaches lawmakers could consider to make highway spending more productive.
How can lawmakers address the imbalance between revenues and spending in the Highway Trust Fund? How does the unique budgetary classification of surface transportation programs limit the effectiveness of standard spending controls?
In 2012, the federal government spent $531 billion on investment—for physical capital; research and development; and education and training—which represented 15 percent of federal spending and 3 percent of GDP.
In 2011, the federal government provided $607 billion in grants to state and local governments, accounting for 17 percent of federal outlays and a quarter of spending by states and localities. Nearly half of that amount was for Medicaid.
CBO's report assesses how the credits affect the relative cost of owning an electric vehicle, and how cost-effectively the credits reduce gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.