The Trump administration announced its big infrastructure plan for the United States June 8. The plan aims for several top-line goals, including cutting permit processing time, inviting private capital to invest, targeting rural infrastructure and big transformative projects, and boosting apprenticeship jobs programs.
To promote the plan, President Trump gave a speech in Cincinnati focused on rural infrastructure and inland waterways and convened meetings with public officials to discuss the plan, including speaking at the U.S. Department of Transportation about how to streamline the environmental and regulatory review process. President Trump also produced a YouTube address covering his infrastructure plan.
Much of what President Trump announced in his plan has been proposed in previous administrations, but several important distinctions stand out. The plan includes incentives for investing in social infrastructure — schools, colleges, universities and veterans’ hospitals. The plan also includes investment for oil pipelines and will try to push plans for the Keystone Pipeline and Dakota project.
The plan anticipates $1 trillion in total investment if the President’s proposal is implemented as it is written. The majority of this investment — $800 billion — will come from city, state and private investment, while the federal government’s contribution comes to $200 million.
The plan also makes use of the federal level TIFIA and WIFIA programs, for transportation and water infrastructure, respectively, and asset recycling whereby proceeds of lease agreements to private investors are “recycled” into new infrastructure projects.
The plan has been criticized as a giveaway for big private investors, and while there are certainly incentives for private investment, as the initiative makes its way through Congress, these complaints could bring pressure that modifies the bill to accommodate these concerns.
Many view President Trump’s plan as a lofty starting point that is flexible and open to change as legislators weigh in.
By the Numbers: The Trump Plan to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure
- $200 billion in funding
- $1 trillion in leveraged investment
- 8-year reduction in permit process time
- $100 billion for local prioritization of infrastructure needs
- $25 billion for rural infrastructure
- $15 billion for transformative projects
- 1 million apprenticeships in two years