Biden economic adviser: ‘It’s important we upgrade our definition of infrastructure’

Cecilia Rouse, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, on Sunday said it is important to “upgrade our definition of infrastructure” when discussing President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal.

When pressed by host Margaret Brennan on CBS’s “Face the Nation” if she can say the proposal is focused “on building roads and bridges” when only about 5 percent of its funding goes to those areas, Rouse said a new definition is needed that “meets the needs of a 21st century economy.”

“I think it’s important that we upgrade our definition of infrastructure, one that meets the needs of a 21st century economy, and that means we need to be funding and incentivizing those structures that allow us to maximize our economic activity,” Rouse said.

Rouse went on to discuss the White House’s large investment in the electric vehicle market, which she said is an important factor in addressing climate change.

“So, incentivizing electric vehicles is really important because we need to be addressing climate change. If we think about the opportunity cost of not doing so we’re just going to keep paying for it and we know that we need to be encouraging our industries to be tilting towards greener production and greener technologies,” Rouse said.

On Wednesday, Biden unveiled his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, branded “The American Jobs Plan,” which includes funding for transportation infrastructure and modern infrastructure like broadband and upgrading buildings, and investments in the care economy to assist health workers and innovation and research and development of future technologies.