Infrastructure Plan: Here’s Hoping Action Will Speak Louder than Words
By David Cullen
Secretary Chao addressing attendees of AASHTO meeting in Washington on Feb. 28. Photo: via Twitter @USDOT
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When it comes to the glacially swift rollout of President Trump’s infrastructure plan (now under way for well over a year), it can be perhaps be said, to paraphrase Winston Churchill broadly, that never before has so little been said to so many about so much.
Case in point is the latest policy speech given by Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who is charged with selling the $1.5 trillion invest-and-incentivize plan on Capitol Hill.
Chao, who has teased parts of the plan and hinted at other aspects of it in various speeches she has made over the course of the past year, threw a fresh tidbit out on Feb. 28.
Addressing attendees of an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials meeting in Washington, DC as the keynote speaker, she advised that a new White House publication was due out soon that promises to dish out “background on the plan.” And yes, that wording screamed “vague” to me as well.
Chao described the administration overall plan as a “comprehensive infrastructure proposal… it is broad, ambitious, and has ignited a necessary debate throughout the nation and in the Congress on infrastructure priorities and processes.”
We’ve all heard that before. But the DOT Secretary did make a point that those who don’t live and breathe policy might need to hear. Pointing out that the Trump plan is “a 10-year investment to modernize our country’s infrastructure assets,” Chao pointed out that it is “comprehensive and separate from a reauthorization package” that typically covers a shorter timeframe.
Chao also reiterated that Trump’s overarching goal is to “stimulate at least $1.5 trillion in infrastructure investment, which includes a minimum of $200 billion in direct …Read the rest of this story
