The ARRA was for 2 years and wasn't designed to be offset by spending cuts or tax increases. It was to be a stimulus package.

This new stuff must be paid for under the budget rules:

http://www.washingto...html?hpid=topnews

While the proposal calls for investments over six years, the White House said spending would be front-loaded with an initial $50 billion to help create jobs in the near future.

The goals of the infrastructure plan include: rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads; constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of railways, enough to go coast-to-coast; and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of airport runways, while also installing a new air navigation system designed to reduce travel times and delays.

Obama will also call for the creation of a permanent infrastructure bank that would focus on funding national and regional infrastructure projects.

Administration officials wouldn't say what the total cost of the infrastructure investments would be, but did say the initial $50 billion represents a significant percentage. Officials said the White House would consider closing a number of special tax breaks for oil and gas companies to pay for the proposal.

Obama made infrastructure investments a central part of the $814 billion stimulus Congress passed last year, but with that spending winding down, the economy's growth has slowed. Officials said this infrastructure package differs from the stimulus because it's aimed at long-term growth, while still focusing on creating jobs in the short-term.

IOW, it's great and makes sense (we should have had such an infrastructure bank long ago), but it's not intended to be economic stimulus (though with some luck it will be). He (and Summers and Geithner) are apparently still hoping that Bernanke and the Fed can do whatever else is necessary to keep the economy going. (It's a weak hope, IMO.) There was little hope of getting it through the congress a year ago ("OMG!! TEH TAXES!!!11!!")

Cheers,
Scott.