Groundwork being laid on infrastructure

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pledge to create a program that funds $1 trillion in new infrastructure programs has kicked off with numerous meetings but few firm decisions, beset by understaffing, bureaucratic challenges and major questions about how to pay for everything.

Trump promised in a February speech to Congress that a $1 trillion infrastructure rebuilding plan would create “millions of new jobs,” but few of those jobs are expected to materialize this year because no firm deadlines have been set and much of its work could spill into 2018.

Despite those challenges, the White House’s infrastructure team has become one of the White House’s broadest task forces, as Trump considers it to be a central plank of his promise to create more jobs. He has now activated a team of White House and cabinetagency officials to identify a wide range of infrastructure projects across the United States and come up with a way to fund them.

On Wednesday, Trump hosted an infrastructure-focused luncheon with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, General Atlantic chief executive William Ford and a number of others. On Tuesday, Trump discussed infrastructure with AFL-CIO Preisdent Richard Trumka.

And on Capitol Hill, some ideas for funding new projects were aired Wednesday at a Senate hearing by highway officials and other interested parties.

Behind the scenes, a government-wide effort kicked off last week, when Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council, led a meeting with officials from 15 different federal agencies and departments, pressing them to come up with answers to six different planks for the infrastructure plan.

They were told they need to identify new projects, find existing projects that need help with completion, come up with policy reforms, regulatory reforms and statutory reforms, and finally come up with a way to pay for it all.

“We’re still kind of getting geared up,” a senior administration official said.

On infrastructure in particular, Trump faces challenges selling members of his own party on his plans once they gel, given GOP resistance to government spending programs.

“This is going to take a lot of work in the administration and on Capitol Hill,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former Capitol Hill staffer. “They don’t have the personnel right now to get that done.”

“This is going to take a lot of work in the administration and on Capitol Hill. They don’t have the personnel right now to get that done.”

— Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former Capitol Hill staffer