Liberal myth

Federal highway spending creates jobs.

The facts

While some jobs are created to build highways, far fewer are created than the millions promised by big-spending liberals.

• The debate should be on whether a highway is necessary, not whether its construction will create jobs
• A series of studies by the Congressional Budget Office and others were at best inconclusive about whether highway spending created jobs
• The federal highways are for transportation and mobility, not jobs, and any focus on jobs distorts the purpose of the spending

Possible negative effects

• A recent study suggested that increased highway spending could actually cause unemployment by diverting money from more productive uses
• Any new taxes used to pay for highway spending would undo any positive effects from highway spending
• A proposed five-cent gasoline tax would cost Americans $125 billion over the next six years

A necessary federal program?

• The federal government built the interstate highway system starting in 1956 for transportation and national defense purposes
• The system was completed in the early 1980s, and much of the spending since then has been politicians funding local projects of little or no national importance

Related Heritage research

• Ronald D. Utt, The Katrina Relief Effort: Congress Should Redirect Highway Earmark Funding to a Higher Purpose, September 2, 2005
• Mandate for Leadership 2005: Strengthening Federalism