Trump Agrees to Democrats' Call for $2T for Infrastructure, Including Broadband
President Donald Trump agreed at Tuesday's meeting with top Democrats to pursue $2 trillion in spending on broadband and other infrastructure projects. Democratic leaders later cautioned that any forward momentum will depend on further talks with the administration and congressional Republicans. Democratic leaders first announced plans to meet with Trump earlier this month in a bid to revive interest in enacting a comprehensive bill (see 1904110068). Trump sought in his February State of the Union for Congress to “unite for a great rebuilding of America's crumbling infrastructure” (see 1902060002). In 2018, he called for a bill “that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment” that relied heavily on public-private partnerships (see 1803290046).
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Democrats during the meeting in part put an “emphasis on broadband, that every American home" needs access to, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., during a news conference outside the White House. Schumer later told reporters on Capitol Hill Democrats had noted the importance of rural broadband and that Trump agreed it should be an important part of any infrastructure package. The communications sector hopes for more appetite for infrastructure legislation this year because Democrats regained the majority in the House in the 2018 election (see 1811130011).
Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote Trump Monday urging that any infrastructure legislative package "be comprehensive" and "go beyond transportation and into broadband" and other priorities. “The issue of infrastructure is a bipartisan Congressional priority and we believe there are significant majorities in both the House and Senate to take action," the two wrote: A bipartisan legislative package must include "substantial, new and real revenue."
“The ball is in the president's court to come up” with a plan to pay for the additional funding, but Trump has agreed that the federal government should take on a large share, Schumer told reporters. A follow-up meeting is expected in three weeks. Talks are an “opportunity” for all parties to “work together in a bipartisan way,” Pelosi said. Concerns about how to raise revenue for infrastructure funding hindered Trump's proposal last year (see 1810100049).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other GOP Hill leaders balked Tuesday at the possibility of rescinding the 2017 tax cut law as a way to fund an infrastructure spending package. “That's a nonstarter,” McConnell told reporters. “This tax bill is what's generated this robust economy. The last thing we want to do is step on all of this growth by stepping back and repealing” the cuts. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters he would be “interested in seeing” an infrastructure package if Democrats and the Trump administration can “find an agreement on how to pay for” it without raising taxes. Republicans will need to have input into a final bill's parameters instead of allowing Pelosi and Schumer to construct it “on their own,” Scalise said.
White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said at a Milken Institute event in Los Angeles he believes the U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement has a better chance of passing Congress than does an infrastructure package, partly citing likely disagreement between Democrats and Republicans on including language to streamline environmental reviews of projects.
The U.S. “has not come even close to properly investing in infrastructure for many years, foolishly prioritizing the interests of other countries over our own,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement. “We have to invest in this country’s future and bring our infrastructure to a level better than it has ever been before.” The coming follow-up meeting will involve “specific proposals and financing methods,” she said.
The U.S. needs “a muscular, serious infrastructure bill that narrows the digital divide, supports broadband deployment, modernizes networks and gets all American families, communities and enterprises everywhere connected to the internet,” said USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter. “Any infrastructure plan should future-proof new infrastructure with fiber capabilities.” Infrastructure legislation "represents an important opportunity to include all Americans in our digital economy,” said Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken in a statement.