Congressional Democrats are set on tackling infrastructure in 2019 if they regain a majority in the House after the 2018 midterm elections, amid frustrations that the Trump administration has failed to deliver a comprehensive infrastructure proposal.
According to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., it’s time for Congress to act.
“Congress ought to take action to repair our aging infrastructure and build an innovative system that addresses future needs,” Hoyer said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
President Trump has called for an infrastructure plan since the 2016 campaign. The White House’s blueprint would allocate $200 billion in federal funding to spur a minimum of $1.3 trillion in infrastructure spending from state and local governments, in addition to the industry. But the administration signaled in the spring that the issue was on the back burner for the remainder of 2018 and would likely need to wait until after the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Democrats have incorporated infrastructure into their “For The People” agenda, and claim that addressing the nation’s roads, bridges and ports will facilitate economic growth and establish jobs with a solid income.
The agenda was unveiled in July as a set of priorities for a Democratic majority, and the infrastructure aspect is based off of the “A Better Deal to Rebuild America” plan that Democrats released in February. The plan would inject $1 trillion in federal funding to address roads, bridges, airports, ports and schools, among other things — a much more significant federal investment than the $200 billion Trump’s plan requires.
“In rural and urban communities alike, there’s a massive unmet need for infrastructure investment,” said Henry Connelly, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
“While the GOP Congress has left that urgent need largely unaddressed, a Democratic majority will act on the promise of our For The People agenda to seize the vital opportunity to raise wages and create good-paying jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, transit, schools and broadband networks across America,” Connelly added.
Infrastructure is also a key component of Hoyer’s revamped “Make It In America” economic plan that he released in July, which recommends that Congress adopt multi-year authorization bills to focus on the backlog of various infrastructure projects. Hoyer also wants Congress to work with local governments.
“Congress should partner with local governments to deal with the backlog of transportation and water projects, invest in a modern electrical grid, and increase access to high-speed Internet networks,” Hoyer said. “House Democrats are committed to addressing the issues most important to the American people, and will certainly focus on updating our infrastructure system in the 116th Congress.”
Republicans also remain interested in tackling a comprehensive infrastructure plan, according to Rep. Sam Graves, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
“Addressing our crumbling infrastructure has long been a bipartisan issue and I am intent on working with all my colleagues on crafting an infrastructure bill that includes finding a long-term funding solution for the Highway Trust fund,” Graves, R-Mo., said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “At the end of the day, this effort will save people’s lives, time and money — what is more bipartisan than that?”
Joseph Kane, a senior research analyst and associate fellow of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, said he could see a new proposal or new language emerging if Democrats regain a majority in the House.
“The bigger debate and question is going to be how are we paying for all of this?” Kane said.
Some lawmakers have backed raising the federal gas tax, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recommended this year that the Trump administration and Congress boost the federal gas tax by 25 cents per gallon to support an infrastructure plan. But other lawmakers such as Graves prefer a vehicle miles traveled tax, which charges users based on their mileage.
Trump has signaled he is open to considering a hike in the gas tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1993. He also predicted in December 2017 that he would work alongside Democrats in a bipartisan fashion and that “infrastructure would be a perfect place to start.”
“I would hope that there could be some consensus and collaboration around this,” Kane said. “And I’m sure that’s the hope of the administration, and I’m sure that’s the hope of congressional leadership too. But I’m sure there are still some deeply held convictions about what this plan should look like and how it should be paid for.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Former White House economic adviser Gary Cohn recently predicted that Trump would sign off on Democrats’ infrastructure proposal, even with a hefty price tag for the federal government.
“If the Democrats win the House I will be shocked if the first thing they don’t do is infrastructure,” Cohn said in an interview with Reuters this month. “I think they’ll do a trillion dollars, trillion and a half dollars of infrastructure, and the president will sign it.
“Another trillion dollars of debt, here we come,” he added.
