In early January, Mayor de Blasio was asked about CUF’s Caution Ahead report in a Q&A he did with The Nation. The interview made clear that Mayor de Blasio had closely read CUF’s report. Here’s a snippet of what the mayor said to interviewer Eric Alterman:

Alterman: But I wanted to pick up what you said about the spirit of the New Deal. Wouldn’t it be great to use the Center for an Urban Future’s report that says we need an additional $50 billion in infrastructure investment—

de Blasio: It was only $47—

Alterman: $47.3—very good. No one’s talking about that kind of money on the table, but that would be a big project that would capture the spirit of the New Deal and do all kinds of great things to address inequality.

de Blasio: I think the Center for an Urban Future did a great service by laying out that number. And I haven’t independently verified it, but let’s just take it as a legitimate analysis and a good starting point.