It may be Infrastructure Week at the White House, but former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony and President Trump’s own words have trampled the administration’s message as it pushes to repair roads, bridges, ports and tracks across the country.
With so much non-infrastructure news over the last few days, Infrastructure Week has become the target of jokes from Trump’s opponents.
“Just wanted to say I’m enjoying infrastructure week,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, quipped Wednesday.
“I can’t believe Infrastructure Week is half way over already,” conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg said.
Trump is scheduled to continue the administration’s infrastructure blitz by participating in a listening session with governors and mayors in Washington on Thursday. But all eyes will be on the Senate Intelligence Committee, where Corey will testify about his conversations with Trump.
On Monday, the White House kicked off a weeklong focus on infrastructure, announcing a series of events and speeches where the president would draw attention to the issue his advisers say they hope can be tackled this year.
“President Donald J. Trump has dedicated this week to addressing America’s crumbling infrastructure,” the White House website said. “The president will be announcing his administration’s infrastructure plans this week on Air Traffic Control, addressing the inland waterway system and improving project efficiency,”
But on the first day of the week, Trump tweeted a defense of his travel ban and criticized his own Justice Department, juicy stories that got more attention than his proposal to privatize the country’s air traffic control system.
The White House also drew attention to non-infrastructure policy issues, bringing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin into the White House briefing room to talk about the department’s plans to overhaul its electronic health records.
On Wednesday, several hours before Trump’s infrastructure speech in Ohio, the president announced on Twitter his selection of Christopher Wray for FBI director.
Infrastructure has long been discussed as an issue that Trump and Democrats could possibly work on together, something a senior White House aide said they hoped that would be the case.
“Infrastructure, the president has said all along, he believes it will be a bipartisan exercise, and it’s one that we will be looking to partner with them on,” said Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs.
But comments from both Republicans and Democrats this week threw into doubt whether they would ultimately find common ground. During a speech in Ohio, Trump called for bipartisanship on infrastructure, but seemed to go off message as he slammed Democratic lawmakers as “obstructionists.”
“They are just obstructionists,” Trump said of Democrats. “Every single thing is obstruction.”
Trump called for a $200 billion federal investment as part of a $1 trillion infrastructure effort that includes public-private partnerships.
“The American people deserve the best infrastructure anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “We are a nation that created the Panama Canal, the transcontinental railroad, and … the interstate highway system. We don’t do that anymore; we really don’t. We don’t even fix the old highways anymore.”
Liberals on Wednesday were mobilizing against Trump’s proposals, speaking out against the private investments Trump has suggested. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., called it “Trump’s privatization scheme that’s simply a giveaway to special interests and Wall Street.”
“One thing is clear, Trump selling off our roads and bridges to Wall Street investors and foreign corporations will be dead on arrival,” Sarah Badawi, who leads legislative affairs at Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said during a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expressed skepticism that Democrats would embrace the president’s proposals.
“Unfortunately, based on recent reports, the entire focus of the president’s infrastructure ‘proposal’ this week is on privatization, which sounds like a nice word, but when you scratch beneath the surface, it means much less construction and far fewer jobs, particularly in rural areas,” Schumer said.
But the week isn’t over: Trump is attending a listening session Thursday and giving a speech at the Department of Transportation headquarters on Friday.
