After campaigning and promising in his first State of the Union address on a new infrastructure agenda, President Donald Trump on Monday announced his infrastructure initiative, which he said would use $200 billion in federal money to spur a total of at least $1.5 trillion in spending on new highways, water systems and other construction projects. According to the NPR’s analysis of the plan from administration officials, President Trump’s plan addresses the funding issue by committing $200 billion in federal funding over 10 years. This funding is being proposed as a way to stimulate state and local spending and private investment. Below we will lay out some of the highlights of this proposal, but according to administration officials, half of the funding, $100 billion, will be used as incentives to entice cities, counties and states to raise at least 80 percent of the infrastructure costs themselves.
When looking at the analysis of Trump’s proposal, there are a few key takeaways from infrastructure proposal. This plan can be deconstructed in any way that both democrats and republicans can agree and disagree on. However, it is the American people that must understand the proposal and decide whether or not this plan is the best plan that our country can come up with. Below are a few key takeaways from today’s announcement that Trump will make in a letter addressed to Congress:
- Stimulate at least $1.5 trillion in new investment over the next decade
- Encourage training for American workers
- Focus on infrastructure needs for rural areas
- Shorten the approval process for projects to two years or less
- Create opportunities for state and local governments to invest in “large-scale infrastructure projects“
Focusing on four parts of this plan, let’s set the table for discussion.
- $50 billion towards rural projects. This would go in the form of block grants to states
- $100 billion in matching funds to be made available to states and cities on new, less-generous terms
- $20 billion would go to federal loan programs that underwrite private financing of profitable infrastructure projects
- $10 billion capital financing program that would fund the construction of federal office buildings and similar infrastructure for actual government use
article continuing to be written….check back for more updates (as of Monday Feb. 12, 2018 @ 6:18pm EST).
