Trump, Dems huddle today
Infrastructure meeting comes with tension high
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats will meet Tuesday in search of a fix for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but they’ll first have to swerve around an escalating battle over special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
The meeting, which will mark the first time Trump has hosted Democratic leaders since an acrimonious gathering during the partial government shutdown in January, comes as the White House is resisting Democratic demands to question administration officials involved in the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference.
Trump and Democratic lawmakers have flirted with a bipartisan infrastructure deal since the president took office, but talks have stalled around how to pay for the trillion-dollar-plus investment needed to make a dent in modernizing the nation’s highways, transit systems and airports. And that was before congressional subpoenas started flying.
“The current climate seems less than optimal for reaching a consensus,” said D.J. Gribbin, a former assistant to the president on infrastructure issues, but he said he was nevertheless encouraged that an initial meeting is taking place.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer will arrive at the White House to discuss infrastructure as lawmakers simultaneously are pursuing the president’s tax returns and sparring with the administration over the testimony of top officials, including Attorney General William Barr. House Democrats want to press Barr this week on the Mueller report and his conclusion that it cleared Trump of wrongdoing.
The investigations have exacerbated tensions between the White House and the Democratic House majority, obscuring the path forward on most policy fronts. That relationship is likely to become even more tenuous as the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination heats up.
“What has the new Democratic majority in the House accomplished in its first 100 days? Nothing,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a response to a question about whether the administration can strike bipartisan deals amid the ongoing probes. “Democrats need to decide if they want to continue their obsession with obstructing this president, or will they work with him to address the real issues impacting everyday Americans.”
While there is broad bipartisan agreement on the need to fix the nation’s infrastructure there is little consensus on how to pay for it, with lawmakers from both parties hesitant to raise the 18.4 cent per gallon federal tax on gasoline. Trump initially proposed relying on private investment for much of that money, an idea that faced criticism in Congress.
In a letter Monday ahead of the meeting, Pelosi and Schumer said any agreement would require “substantial, new and real revenue,” but they offered no specific plan.
Democrats called for a bipartisan infrastructure deal to also include clean “energy and resiliency priorities” and said it should go beyond transportation to include “broadband, water, energy, schools, housing and other initiatives.”
Larry Kudlow, a senior Trump economic adviser, said the administration is interested in hearing ideas but said the White House would not bring specific proposals to the table. “We would like this to be bipartisan,” he told reporters. “It’s an important topic but, no, we’re not going to come in and hammer down anything. We want to hear what they have to say.”
Pelosi suggested the meeting during a call this month with Trump. The gettogether marks the first time Democratic leaders have met with Trump at the White House since a tense gathering during the government shutdown. Trump left the meeting after Democrats refused to yield to his demands for more border wall money.
Before that meeting, Trump, Pelosi and Schumer took part in a remarkable televised clash in the Oval Office in mid-December in an attempt to head off the shutdown. Trump told Democratic leaders at that meeting that he would be “proud” to shut down the government if he didn’t get the $5 billion he wanted for the wall.
Political observers said there’s little evidence the White House or House Democrats see an advantage in breaking away from a go-it-alone approach.
“There’s political upside for both President Trump and Democrat leaders in trying to reach some agreement on infrastructure,” said longtime GOP strategist Michael DuHaime. “But it doesn’t appear that there’s much appetite for collaboration in Washington right now.”
“It doesn’t appear that there’s much appetite for collaboration in Washington right now.” Michael DuHaime, Republican strategist