Mulvaney: Infrastructure Spending 'Poor' Stimulus Tool

Infrastructure spending "sounds great" but it's a "poor short-term" tool to stimulate the economy after the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, President Donald Trump's former acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday, following reports that the administration is preparing an up to $1 trillion infrastructure package focused on transportation projects. 

"Infrastructure is a really difficult tool to use as stimulus, because it takes too long to get the money into the system," Mulvaney, who now serves as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "I've had the conversations with folks in the administration. It could take years for money to get to things like roads and bridges and so forth. We learned that during the Obama administration."

Mulvaney, who also served in the Trump White House as director of the Office of Management and Budget, said he thinks Congress will look at a larger stimulus package, and he hopes it will consider the country's economic needs, not the "political expediency" of passing a package. 

"I hope if (Treasury Secretary) Steven Mnuchin and (economic adviser) Kevin Hassett go to the president of the United States and say we need these economic packages, that's a good reason to look forward," Mulvaney said. "If the political advisers say we need to do this in order to help with the election, you can't buy an election."

Mulvaney added that he's "not convinced" that further economic stimulus bills need to be passed at this time, as much of the money already appropriated in the other coronavirus stimulus bill has not yet entered the system, and he doesn't want to "overstimulate the economy."

He said he's also concerned about the government picking "winners and losers" when it comes to backing industries with the stimulus funds. 

"It's better to look at the larger market drivers, is capital available, to your point, are community banks able to lend money to small businesses, are the capital markets functioning properly, are payrolls flowing," said Mulvaney. "I think those are the type of things you should look at as opposed to saying yes to this industry and no to that industry."

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