President Trump is turning his attention this week to the $1 trillion U.S. infrastructure overhaul he promised during his campaign. But Ohio’s Democratic U.S. senator says the details are looking a lot different than candidate Trump promised.
The White House won’t release its plan until next month, but some preliminary reports say the trillion-dollar program would actually mean $200 billion from the federal government with the rest coming from private investment, state and local funds – and requiring cuts in spending on other domestic programs.
Sen. Sherrod Brown says even $200 billion may be optimistic given the massive tax cuts GOP lawmakers plan to get through Congress this week.
“It’s going to blow a hole in the budget deficit, another trillion or trillion and a half dollars. I don’t know where the money’s going to come from to do the infrastructure the president talks about; you can’t toll every bridge and highway and water and sewer system and every broadband expansion and everything else. You’ve got to have real dollars to do it.”
Brown also says local and state governments are already strapped and would have trouble coming up with their share. Politico reported last week that local projects would have to compete for the federal money by showing they’re prepared to contribute.
