Elaine Chao: Trump’s Infrastructure Funding Plan Will Be Announced in ‘Several Weeks’
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s plan to upgrade the country’s transportation network will be unveiled in a few weeks, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the start of Infrastructure Week.
“The new funds will be used to leverage $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years,” Chao said, noting the Office of Management and Budget has identified funding offsets for the plan as a way of minimizing debt. “A key feature of the infrastructure plan will be unleashing the billions of dollars in private capital available for investment in infrastructure.”
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The plan would look to target the environmental review process for infrastructure projects, as well as expand funding for energy, water, broadband and veteran hospitals.
While Chao mostly reiterated her remarks from earlier this year, emphasizing the administration’s interest in private capital, she acknowledged limitations associated with public-private partnerships. Tolling facilities are examples of P3s.
“Lower demand on rural roads may not generate enough revenue to repay private investment. This administration is committed to an infrastructure package that addresses the needs of the entire country, urban and rural,” said Chao, who is scheduled to appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on May 17.
Earlier this year, Trump called on Congress to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure funding plan that would rely on public and private dollars.
At the Infrastructure Week kickoff, industry leaders and advocates for additional transportation funding noted the American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the country’s infrastructure a D+ grade. Norma Jean Mattei, the society’s president who spoke after Chao, emphasized ASCE’s estimate that investment in infrastructure needs between 2016 and 2025 would total nearly $4.6 trillion.
“After decades of minimal investment and maintenance, our needs are great,” Mattei said. “Leaders from all levels of government and from the private sector must come together to increase investment.”
