In that sense, infrastructure might be defined as “big things the government does that affect a lot of people.” And under that expansive definition, Biden’s plan comes into focus. Infrastructure, the White House and its allies are arguing, is not about roads and bridges and trains and pipes. It’s a catchall for spending that’s supposed to benefit large swaths of the population—whether you’re trying to drive from city to city or trying to get online or trying to afford an electric car.

And yet even under a definition that stretches the meaning of the word infrastructure almost beyond recognition, Biden’s proposal still runs into problems. The tax increases, favors for unions and other special interests, and economically nonsensical mandates like the “Buy American” rules mean that the American Jobs Plan undercuts its own ambitions.

Meanwhile, by prioritizing sloppy and politicized goals that are disconnected from the realities of what he’s proposing, Biden is encouraging less serious policy making. Amid the flurry of tweets mocking Gillibrand’s claim that “paid leave is infrastructure,” a comment from the former South Carolina governor and likely future GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley stood out. “Protecting the unborn is infrastructure,” she wrote. “Religious freedom is infrastructure. Fiscal responsibility is infrastructure.”