Trump plan sees states, businesses ponying up

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is poised to unveil a long-awaited plan Monday that aims to stimulate $1.5 trillion in new spending on the country’s ailing infrastructure over the coming decade, but many lawmakers in both parties say the president isn’t providing a viable way to pay for his initiative.

A year in the making, the proposal is an attempt to fulfill a marquee campaign promise and would rely heavily on state and local governments and the private sector to cover the costs of new roads, bridges, waterways and other public-works projects.

The plan calls for investing $200 billion in federal money over the coming decade to entice other levels of government and the private sector to raise their spending on infrastructure by more than $1 trillion to hit the administration’s goal of $1.5 trillion in new funding over 10 years. It also seeks to dramatically reduce the time required to obtain environmental permits for such projects.

White House aides say that Trump is open to a new source of funding to cover the federal share — such as raising the federal gas tax for the first time since 1993 — but Congress will have to make such decisions.

For now, the White House is suggesting that lawmakers cut money from elsewhere in the budget, including some existing infrastructure programs. That prospect seems unlikely, given that Congress just last week reached a bipartisan deal to spend significantly more money over the coming two years.

“I think it’s just dead on arrival. ... It’s not a plan that will really work,” said Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., a member of the House Problem Solvers Caucus that works on bipartisan solutions. “Are Republicans going to embrace any kind of funding plan besides stealing from Peter to pay Paul within the federal government?”

In a statement Sunday, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said