Fox News’ Chris Wallace corrected Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s lies about the infrastructure package on live TV.
Buttigieg claimed America ranks 13th in infrastructure and the package would create 19 million jobs. Both are lies.
Chris Wallace played a clip from Buttigieg’s Meet The Press appearance from last Sunday when he said the package “would create 19 million jobs.”
Wallace got right to business:
WALLACE: But it turns out the study you’re citing from Moody’s Analytics says the economy will add 16.3 million jobs without the infrastructurebill, and 2.7 million more with it. So it doesn’t, as you said last Sunday,create 19 million jobs.Again, Secretary Buttigieg, why misled folks?BUTTIGIEG: Well, you’re right, I should have been more precise. The 19million jobs that will be created are more than the jobs that will becreated if we don’t do the plan. And it’s very important to make thispoint, as you’ve just showed us.WALLACE: Right, but 2 million — 2 million is not 19 million.(CROSSTALK)BUTTIGIEG: Now Moody’s is saying that we will create 2.7 million — yes,exactly, it will create 2.7 million more jobs than if we don’t do it. Andthat’s very important, because there are people on this network and otherssaying with a straight face that this would somehow reduce the number ofjobs.In fact, at least according to that Moody’s analysis, 2.7 millionadditional jobs if we pass this package, just further proof that it’s goodfor the economy, and taken as a whole, it’s going to add jobs compared todoing nothing.WALLACE: But would you agree that you and the president and Brian Deese,the economic adviser on this program last week, you all exaggerated thejobs impact?BUTTIGIEG: Look, there are a lot of different analyses about just how manymillion jobs this is going to create. I saw a Georgetown study, I think itsaid an investment of this type will create or save 10 to 15 million –(CROSSTALK)WALLACE: But, Secretary, you’re the one who recited Moody’s –BUTTIGIEG: The point is it’s going to create millions of jobs.
Buttigieg tried over and over to make it appear that a difference of 16 million is not a big deal. All that matters is that the package will create millions of jobs:
BUTTIGIEG: It’s part of a scenario that Moody’s says will create 19million jobs.But the bottom line is, it’s going to add jobs. And this is a directrefutation of people who are saying otherwise. So, yes, you’re right, Ishould be very precise. The difference in jobs that that particularanalysis suggests is 2.7 million more. That is a great place to be, whywouldn’t we want America to create 2.7 million more jobs?And I want to say something else about the jobs that’s very important. Themajority of them, according to a lot of the studies we’ve seen, will be forpeople who don’t necessarily have college degrees. So there’s a time whenyou’ve got a blue collar communities that are hurting, a lot of questionsabout the future of union jobs, construction jobs, manufacturing jobs. These are exactly the kind of jobs we need to be creating.
Um, okay. Say that to the 16 million people who won’t end up getting jobs from this $2.5 trillion package. Remember, over half of the bill does not involve infrastructure.
Buttigieg and others in President Joe Biden’s administration insisted America ranks 13th in infrastructure. I mean, you have to make America sound like it’s horrible in order to justify spending over $2.5 trillion.
WALLACE: I want to start with a fact check of how the Biden administrationis selling this plan.You all like to say that U.S. infrastructure is ranked 13th in the world,but our colleague Chuck Lane of “The Washington Post” did some interestingresearch. Three of the nations ahead of us on that list are Singapore, HongKong, and the United Arab Emirates, which are tiny states and hardlycomparable. Of the 10 largest countries geographically, including China andRussia, the U.S. actually ranks first.So, Secretary, not to say that everything is fine, but why not be straightabout the actual conditions here in the U.S. to the American people?BUTTIGIEG: Well, the American people already know that our infrastructureneeds a lot of work. That’s one of the reasons why there’s such strongsupport for the president’s American Jobs Plan.Look, the American Society of Civil Engineers rates our infrastructure,we’ve been getting a lot of Cs and Ds. But you know don’t need anengineering report to know that driving on American roads, they’re not theway they should be. Our bridges need work. We’ve got thousands uponthousands that are either in poor condition or even structurally deficient.If you go to U.S. airports and you compare them to airports in othercountries, other developed countries, you know that the U.S. is not at ahigh standard. We don’t have a lot of work to do to persuade the Americanpeople that U.S. infrastructure needs major improvement. The Americanpeople already know it.And that’s one of the reasons why there’s such extraordinary Republican andindependent and Democratic support for this package among the Americanpeople.WALLACE: Not necessarily in Congress, however.
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