Former Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx expressed skepticism Thursday that President Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan involving public-private partnerships will be able to cover all of the needed repairs.
“When you read the fine print, what he’s talking about is basically a set of tax credits that generate about $137 billion in tax credits that he believes will produce $1 trillion of investment,” Foxx said in an interview on CBS This Morning.
Foxx added that he thinks the plan would only cover some projects.
Asked where he thinks the money should be spent first, Foxx said, “I think the money needs to be spent on where the clogs are the greatest - where the traffic and congestion is the most.”
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“A lot of time we spread money like peanut butter in transportation across the country,” he said, adding that the U.S. should be more data-driven in how it distributes money. “Go where the problems are and start to build around them.”
In terms of Mr. Trump’s claim that his infrastructure plan would create millions of jobs, Foxx said that could only happen if the administration makes smart investments.
“You have to have smart investments in transportation in order to get those second and third-level benefits,” he said.
Foxx served as President Obama’s transportation secretary from 2013 through the end of his administration. He previously served as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Source: CBS News
Trump’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan: What Plan?
“To launch our national rebuilding, I will be asking the Congress to approve legislation that produces a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure of the United States - financed through both public and private capital - creating millions of new jobs.”
Good luck with that.
While lawmakers often relish a chance to tout their work back home building roads, bridges and other large public works projects, they are hardly in agreement on how to actually move such a giant price-tag bill.
For starters, there are partisan disagreements on this issue. Trump needs Senate Democrats, but they’ve pitched a very different $1 trillion infrastructure approach that focuses on existing government programs and even adding to the deficit.
Trump stayed away from details in his speech Tuesday but has previously suggested tax credits were his main driver. Meantime, Republican leaders have largely shrugged off infrastructure as a top-tier item in favor of the other big lifts of 2017, namely health care and tax reform.
Source: Darren Samuelsohn for Politico
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