MARTINEZ LOBBIES TRUMP
State, local officials hear mixed message
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez talks to President Donald Trump in a White House meeting Monday with other state and local officials to discuss infrastructure issues. The president proposed a $1.5 trillion effort over a decade if states are able to provide support: “If you want it badly, you’re going to get it. If you don’t want it, that’s OK with me, too.”
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sent Congress a sweeping plan Monday to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating roads and bridges — then immediately raised doubts about how committed he was to delivering on that campaign promise.
“If you want it badly, you’re going to get it,” Trump told state and local officials during a meeting at the White House. “And if you don’t want it, that’s OK with me, too.”
Trump suggested that his proposal — aimed at spurring $1.5 trillion in spending over a decade — was not as important to him as other recent administration efforts to cut taxes and boost military spending.
“If, for any reason, they don’t want to support to it, hey, that’s going to be up to them,” Trump said of the Republican-controlled Congress. “What was very important to me was the military, what was very important to me was the tax cuts, and what was very important to me was regulation.”
Speaking of infrastructure, Trump added: “This is of great importance, but it’s not nearly in that category. Because the states will have to do it themselves if we don’t do it. But I would like to help the states out.”
Convening a roomful of state and local leaders, Trump listened as governors — including New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez — and mayors pitched individual projects in their states and described the challenges involved with gaining federal permits.
Martinez said she liked what she heard from the president.
“We’ve seen what can happen when we leverage federal, state and local funds to meet infrastructure needs that help our economy grow, Martinez said. “His plan also emphasizes new investments in rural infrastructure, which is so important for a large and rural state like ours.”
Esteban Bovo, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission in Florida, said, “It seems to me that the pyramids in Egypt were built faster than some of the projects that we’re contemplating.”
Trump vowed repeatedly that the federal permitting process would be streamlined but said it would be up to state and local leaders to ensure that local permits don’t hold up worthy projects.
“Washington will no longer be a roadblock to progress. Washington will now be your partner,” Trump said.
The administration’s plan is centered on using $200 billion in federal money to leverage more than $1 trillion in local and state tax dollars to fix America’s infrastructure, such as roads, highways, ports and airports.
With the plan heavily dependent on state and local dollars, Democrats warned it would raise tolls on commuters, sell off governmentowned infrastructure to Wall Street and eliminate critical environmental protections.
The proposal lists Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport as examples of assets that could be sold. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., warned that the proposal included studying whether the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public utility, should sell its transmission assets. He called it “a looney idea” with “zero chance of becoming law.”