Hopes dim that Trump will reach infrastructure deal with Congress

[left-of-center2012]

As millions of Americans hit the road for the Memorial Day weekend, they traveled across aging bridges, on crumbling roads and through tunnels in dire need of repair — infrastructure that earned a D+ grade in the most recent report from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

At the same time, President Trump, who campaigned in 2016 touting his skills as both a builder and a dealmaker, has been unable to reach a grand bargain with Congress, further dimming hopes that upgrading the nation’s roads, bridges and tunnels will bypass the capital’s infamous gridlock anytime soon.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, in its 2017 report, estimated that funding would need to be increased by $2 trillion over 10 years to make up the infrastructure gap. “We can no longer afford to wait,” said ASCE Executive Director Tom Smith. “Our infrastructure problem is not going to go away, and it’s certainly not going to get better with time.”

Last month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) emerged from the White House to announce that they had agreed with Trump to push for a $2 trillion infrastructure package. The number — twice what Trump had proposed just a year earlier — quickly became a flash point as Republicans distanced themselves from it and Democrats called on the White House to provide ideas for how to fund such a massive spending project.

Trump’s standoff with Democrats highlights the president’s difficulty navigating Washington’s political waters and inability to deliver on a key campaign promise with bipartisan appeal, said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. “It’s easy to say you’re going to work to fix bridges and highway and dams, but that’s just talk,” he said. “In order to move the ball forward, you have to get out there and cheerlead for public works projects — and this president doesn’t know how to bring people together.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-falls-short-on-infrastructure-after-promising-to-build-roads-bridges-and-consensus/2019/05/26/1027446e-7c9f-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.96d728ddecf8

[Guilded Lilly]

1. The dimwit squatting in The White House is only interested in feeding...

his insatiable, insane ego at whatever treacherous cost to the entire world.
We know it, the country knows it, our enemies know it, the world knows it.
Things will continue to go to hell until he is removed.

[Achilleaze]

2. republican FAIL

They had 2 years with both houses of Congress, the White House, and the Supremos. They did shit for America and America's infrastructure. Now the Dems are ready to talk turkey, and the repubes are too busy kissing Dirty Donny's rotten russian ass, and playing golf, to do anything positive for America. Sad.

[Nitram]

3. I never had any hope at all he'd work with a Democratic House. the Republican Party won't let Trump

raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for infrastructure.

[GoCubsGo]

4. Wow! There are people who still believe that?

Anyone who still thinks Trump had any intention of working on infrastructure, or anything else that doesn't serve him personally, is not paying attention. Trump only cares about what is good Trump. He doesn't give a shit about infrastructure, and never has.