What Mr R leaves out from his numbers is the context that I believe shows this is a mainstream proposal. Irl, Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Mike Crapo proposed an amendment that would increase funding for the trust fund to $3.75 billion, this is similar to that though admittedly somewhat greater(I do consider myself more left-wing than Ron Johnson and Mike Crapo). link As I've explained, this would be a worthwhile increase and this program serves an important mission in providing affordable housing. Furthermore, $5 billion isn't that much in the grand scheme of the wider budget, and given the original funding for this is rather small, using percentages does not tell you everything. This program is good value for money-better than most, and Senators can rest assured this is not some crazy tax and spend pie in the sky liberal thinking here but an eminnently reasonable, mainstream and affordable proposal.
Out of curiosity can you link to the study demonstrating that this is good value for the money? It very well might be, but a GAO study showing this would be helpful.
I would like to see this as well if Pericles is able to provide it.
