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Trump And Democrats Agree On $2 Trillion For Infrastructure, But Not On How To Pay
By: Brian Naylor | NPR
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Democratic congressional leaders say President Trump has agreed to a $2 trillion infrastructure plan. But — and it’s a big but — there was no agreement on how to pay for such a wide-ranging and expensive proposal.
The leaders say they’re waiting for Trump to outline his ideas for that in three weeks.
Emerging from a White House meeting that lasted some 90 minutes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said they were “very excited about the conversation that we had.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. called it “very constructive,” adding that it is clear that Democratic leaders and the president “want to get something done on infrastructure in a big and bold way.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also struck a positive tone in her statement after the meeting, calling it “excellent and productive.”
“The United States has not come even close to properly investing in infrastructure for many years … We have to invest in this country’s future and bring our infrastructure to a level better than it has ever been before,” the statement said.
Schumer said the proposed package would include funds to repair roads and bridges, along with water projects and “a big emphasis” on broadband and the power grid, so “we can bring clean energy from one end of the country to the other.”
The Democratic leaders say the onus is on the president to come up with a way to pay for the improvements. “Certainly in the Senate, if we don’t have [Trump] on board, it will be very had to get the Senate to go along,” Schumer said.
Schumer said the group would meet again in three weeks to get the president’s funding ideas. Schumer also said the president did not repeat threats he has made in previous meetings with Democrats — that if congressional investigations of him continue, he will not work with Democrats on legislation.
“He didn’t bring it up,” Schumer said. “We can do both at once,” he said, later adding, “The two are not mutually exclusive, and we were glad he didn’t make it that way.”
It’s unclear whether or how Republicans and Democrats will be able to find common ground on a funding source for a large infrastructure package, something that’s eluded them for years.
There is no apparent appetite in either party to raise the gas tax, which funds federal transportation projects and has remained at its current level — 18.4 cents a gallon — since 1993. Democrats have proposed rolling back the tax cuts passed by the president and the last Republican led-Congress to fund road and bridge repairs, but that would also appear to be a nonstarter with GOP.
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