According to sources familiar with the proposal taking shape, the infrastructure plan that Donald Trump promised during the elections is almost finished. The plan is said to push most of the financing of projects to private investment as well as state and local taxpayers.
President Trump regularly spoke of improving United States infrastructure during his 2016 campaign but had no details available of how it would look. There are talks that President Trump may preview the plan in his January 30 State of the Union address, but details are not expected until afterwards.
According to Reuters, two people briefed on it said it would likely recommend dividing $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years into four pools of funds. The administration is structuring the plan to encourage $1.35 trillion in state, local and private financing to build and repair the nation’s bridges, highways, waterworks and other infrastructure, one source said.
An official from the largest business lobbying group in Washington, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the organization is putting pressure on Trump’s administration to fund infrastructure projects, and is even backing a 25 cent increase in the federal gasoline tax in order for funds to be gathered.
The tax increase they are asking for is quite unusual to be coming from a business group, but the organization says that it is essential in order for critical infrastructure projects to be funded.
Reuters reports that Tom Donohue, the Chamber’s president, is expected to make four recommendations in a speech on Thursday to reiterate its call for an infrastructure deal.
Meanwhile, there is uncertainty if the plan will be approved in Congress since the chance of winning is slim given the fact that the Republicans only have 51-49 majority in the Senate. The numbers in the Trump plan are still in flux and could change before he unveils it. The prospects of winning approval in Congress are uncertain given the narrow Senate majority Republicans have.
In order to avoid making the national debt larger, many Republicans have expressed the need for private-sector investment to be used in order to finance the infrastructure projects. On the other hand, Democrats strongly believe that only government money can fund and produce such a large project.
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