Trump: Infrastructure Construction Not ‘Core’ Part of Agenda

‘I think I am doing things that are more important than infrastructure, but infrastructure is still a part of it, and we’re talking about a very large-scale infrastructure bill’

TheHill.com
Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore 2 583c5e220b81c

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with The New York Times that his infrastructure rhetoric from the presidential campaign will not be a core part of his agenda during the first few years of his administration.

“We’re going for a lot of things, between taxes, between regulations, between health care replacement, we’re going to talk repeal and replace,” Trump said, according to a transcript. “So there are a lot of things. But infrastructure . . . is going to be a part of it.”

Pressed by the Times on whether his infrastructure proposal was a part of his job-creation plan, Trump said, “I don’t even think it’s a big part of it.”

“It’s going to be a big number but I think I am doing things that are more important than infrastructure, but infrastructure is still a part of it, and we’re talking about a very large-scale infrastructure bill,” he said.

Trump has floated the idea of a $1 trillion package that would offer tax credits to private investors who want to back transportation projects, which he says would spur investment, create jobs and boost the economy.

Republican leadership has been reluctant to back a massive spending package on infrastructure, with conservatives warning Trump to avoid anything that adds to the deficit or looks like an economic stimulus plan.

(more on Trump’s infrastructure plans . . . )

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