Congress Mulls Trump Infrastructure and Construction Budget Proposals

Congressional and construction industry leaders are giving critical reviews of the recently released Trump administration long term infrastructure plan, as well as the White House budget request for fiscal 2019 federal construction. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says: “The Trump plan has the skin of an infrastructure plan, but it lacks the guts.” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio calls the proposals “embarrassingly small.” House Democrats have announced an alternative plan calling for $1 trillion in federal infrastructure spending over the next ten years, 500% larger than the White House recommendation of only $200 billion.

Furthermore, Trump’s $200 billion plan would be offset by elimination of all TIGER grants, and a 59% reduction on capital expenditures for public transit. Also missing from the administration’s plans is any long term proposal for sustaining the federal Highway Trust Fund. The White House 2019 budget proposes to freeze airport construction grants, cut the Army Corps of Engineers civil works program by 22%, cut the USEPA water infrastructure program 28% and clean water state revolving funds 28%. The only major 2019 construction increases proposed are adding $768 million to the GSA construction account to purchase the now leased Transportation Department headquarters, and doubling the Veterans Affairs major projects budget to $1.1 billion.