This commentary was originally published in Fortune.
Who is winning the infrastructure sweepstakes? Wednesday night’s Senate vote, with 18 Republicans joining 50 Democrat senators in agreeing to advance the bill, offers one of those rare Washington wins for all in these divisive D.C. days. While infrastructure may not be a pretty word, like a great work of art, its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is not a consensus on how broadly infrastructure is defined, how much should be invested, and how to pay for this investment. Thus, during the Trump administration, the recurrences of fizzled fanfare over sequential infrastructure weeks became fodder for late-night comics.
At first blush, President’s Biden’s ambitious $3 trillion proposal was just carved down to a mere $1.2 trillion package. An original analysis, however, shows that there has been more going on than the presumed battle between business and government or the GOP and Democrats over funding….