CNBC’s Joe Kernen Laughs as Pete Buttigieg Tries to Sell $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan: ‘We Do Have the Money!’

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tried to sell skeptical CNBC host Joe Kernen on Thursday on the Biden administration’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, insisting it would be fully funded.

“I don’t want to get bogged down in a semantic or philosophical argument over what to call something,” Buttigieg told Kernen in a morning interview, prompting Kernen to interject.

“Mr. Secretary, come on,” Kernen said. “You might as well just tell me, ‘You know, you need those roads to drive to free college and free childcare, and therefore I want to build them.’ I mean, come on. You can’t do all of it at once!”

While “infrastructure” has traditionally been used to describe transportation needs — such as roads and bridges — or other physical systems, such as electrical grids, Democrats have been using the term more generously when it comes to the administration’s infrastructure proposal to include items such as paid leave and childcare.

A brief back-and-forth ensued where Buttigieg struggled to be heard, before Kernen added, “You can make that jump to everything under the sun, to [say], ‘Everything under the sun is infrastructure. We should spend $100 trillion on infrastructure, and give everything to everyone because that’s where their life is.’

“We don’t have the money!” Kernen concluded. “We don’t have the wherewithal.”

Buttigieg disagreed. “We do have the money!” he said. “That’s the thing. Like, we abundantly do have the money, because the bill is paid for.”

Watch above via CNBC.

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