State of the Union Address Leaves Infrastructure Funding Questions Unanswered
Source: By Todd Neeley, DTN/Progressive Farmer • Posted: Friday, February 2, 2018
A call for infrastructure improvements was a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address on Tuesday, but questions remain about how to fund projects. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District)
OMAHA (DTN) — President Donald Trump set out an agenda during the State of Union address on Tuesday that includes a plan to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure.
However, the president provided few details as to how a $1.5 trillion rebuilding of bridges, highways, locks and dams, airports and other important projects would be funded.
On a night when Trump made few direct references to agriculture, the president’s infrastructure proposal may have drawn the most attention among farm interests.
Moving into 2018, the Trump administration is turning its focus on immigration reform and, at some point, infrastructure.
Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy at the Center for American Progress, said the president’s speech offered no new details.
“Creating a private equity bonanza for Wall Street will mean higher taxes, tolls, and user fees for working — and middle-class — Americans,” DeGood said in a news release.
The Trump plan calls for about $200 billion in federal dollars invested, to spark public/private partnerships to fund some $1.5 trillion in improvements.
DeGood said the plan would lead to increases in state and local taxes and user fees, while shifting the cost burden to states and cities.
In addition, Trump called for cutting the permitting time for road and bridge projects from about 10 years to one or two years as a way to speed up improvements.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said the president’s infrastructure focus is good for agriculture.
“President Trump’s optimistic vision for the nation includes massive investment in infrastructure, which will be a boon to a rural America that sorely needs such improvements,” Perdue said in a statement.