White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney cast doubt Tuesday on the likelihood of a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure deal between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats, even as President Trump met with Democratic leaders at the White House to discuss an agreement.
Mulvaney made the remarks on Tuesday during an on-stage interview at the Milken Institute’s annual global conference in Los Angeles, just shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., emerged from a meeting with Trump on infrastructure that they said was productive.
“I hope that negotiations go well today, but if they don’t it would not surprise me,” said Mulvaney, adding that even if a deal happens the chances that any building would begin during his first term were negligible.
“I think there’s a much better chance of getting [the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement] passed than getting an infrastructure deal passed,” Mulvaney, said.
Mulvaney also said that he’s concerned about the continuously growing national debt and the effects that a global economic slowdown could have on it, but that an upcoming fall deadline over federal funding and the debt ceiling would not reduce federal spending.
“Yes there will be a head-to-head battle over spending, it happens every year, and the fight will be over how much we increase spending,” said Mulvaney.
[Related: Kellyanne Conway warns Dems: Don’t bring Trump Green New Deal under ‘guise of infrastructure’]
