President Donald Trump is asking Congress to come up with a 10-year $1.5 trillion infrastructure investment plan that only uses $200 billion in federal funds.
The White House on Wednesday released a statement that included a short list of objectives for a sweeping infrastructure spending bill, but did little to answer questions about where the remaining $1.3 trillion in necessary project funding will come from.
The president urged lawmakers to put aside partisan politics in order to “come together to give us safe, fast, reliable, and modern infrastructure that our economy needs and our people deserve.”
Infrastructure investment has traditionally been an issue on which both parties can actually agree.
“Rebuilding our parks, wildlife refuges and [Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)] schools is not a Republican or Democrat issue - it’s an American issue,” Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said in a statement. “Having served in Congress, I know there are lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who share President Trump’s vision.”
The only concrete details included in the administration’s latest proclamation, however, revolve around Trump’s previously stated goal of reducing lead time for federal permitting and environmental review of proposed infrastructure projects.
In a separate statement, the White House noted that the average timeframe for federal review and permit approval has increased from 4.7 years in 2014 to 5.1 years in 2016.
“Inefficient federal permitting and review processes are slowing down infrastructure projects, delaying community access to needed improvements,” said Trump.
“Reforming federal regulations and permitting processes to speed up project completion times would give communities faster access to rebuilt and modernized infrastructure,” he added. “Reducing project completion times would give communities quicker access to the time savings, health and safety benefits, and increased business activity that come along with infrastructure investments.”
According to the White House, Trump's plan would shorten the environmental review process to two years and establish a “one agency, one decision” structure.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement Trump’s “ambitious proposal calls for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to play a leading role in the administration’s efforts. Through important permitting reforms and localized investments and incentives, EPA would be an integral part of initiating new projects and accelerating current endeavors to completion.”
In recent years, much of the burden of infrastructure spending has fallen to states and local communities as federal dollars have been harder and harder to come by.
During his campaign, Trump said repeatedly he would lean heavily on private investment to supplement state and federal spending, but many analysts questioned whether the private sector would be interested in investing in assets that generally don’t provide a direct return on that investment.
Last fall, Trump appeared to have soured on the idea of public-private partnerships as a funding mechanism for infrastructure investment entirely, but Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said the reluctance of the private sector to get involved was more a matter of red tape than ROI.
“The private sector is ready and eager to invest in many of these critical projects, but has been hesitant to jump - most notably because our flawed and convoluted permitting process means their investment may take years and years to get off the ground,” he said. “President Trump’s infrastructure proposal recognizes this problem and prioritizes responsible permitting reform, an important tool in unlocking the economic potential of a major infrastructure package.”
Trump also touted several benefits of increased infrastructure spending, most notably a projected acceleration in gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
According to the latest estimate from the Department of Commerce, also released on Wednesday, U.S. GDP - a calculation of the value of the goods and services produced by a nation’s economy minus the value of the goods and services used up in production - grew 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2.3 percent for the full year.
Trump cited a recent analysis from the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) that found a 10-year $1.5 trillion infrastructure investment program could add between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points to annual average GDP growth.
“Stronger GDP growth from increased infrastructure investment would help boost the American economy, raise wages for American workers, and improve the standard of living in American communities,” he said.
In addition, Trump noted that an increase in infrastructure spending would create job opportunities for American workers, in particular those “who did not attend college.”
“CEA estimates that a $1.5 trillion infrastructure investment would result in the employment of 290,000 to 414,000 additional infrastructure workers, on average, over a ten-year window,” he said. “There are an estimated 350,000 infrastructure workers currently unemployed and available to fill positions.”