The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) announced their hesitant, support of the Trump Administration’s new plan to rebuild the U.S. infrastructure.
The coalition hesitancy–which extends to its 31 national association and trade union membership–stems from what they call a step steps forward, one step back approach to revitalization. Under the Administration’s plan, $200 billion would be spent on revitalizing the state of transportation throughout the country. The White House called for an incentives program for states, localities and the private sector. It also called for billions of investment into a Transformative Projects Program for those government entities not able to attract private sector investment, expansion of infrastructure financing programs and rural infrastructure in general. In the process, though, it also calls for elimination of transit capital and other transportation construction great programs–both ideas opposed by the TCC.
“The Administration is wisely seeking to change the dialogue that has been largely absent in Washington for more than a decade and proposing something extra to current programs that aims to improve highway and transit infrastructure performance rather than the focus continuing on just maintaining current conditions,” the TCC wrote. “The TCC also supports the President’s outlined efforts to identify procedural changes to accelerate the delivery of infrastructure projects as well as the expansion of programs to enhance state, local and private sector investment.”
Yet their concern also includes how the Highway Trust Fund is being handled. Fiscal instability lingers therein, and while the TCC noted the Administration’s call for a permanent solution, they simultaneously chastised the Administration for not actually proposing any meaningful solutions to the trouble.
This is the start, in their view, to do more than merely maintaining U.S. infrastructure–there is the opportunity to improve it.
“There is no better way to do just that than by passing a package that includes a permanent, growing, user-based Highway Trust Fund revenue solution,” the TCC said in their statement. “The TCC looks forward to working with Members of Congress in the coming weeks to help them do exactly that.”