Posted on 05/22/2019 12:51:17 AM PDT by blueplum
WASHINGTON (AP) — Reality has set in during the three weeks since President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to work together on a $2 trillion package to invest in roads, bridges and broadband.
Republican leaders in Congress have shown little enthusiasm for the price tag, and even less for the idea of raising the federal fuel tax to help pay for upgrading the nation's infrastructure. Trump himself has suggested that Democrats are somehow setting a trap to get him to go along with a tax increase.
Trump and Democratic lawmakers will meet at the White House on Wednesday for Round 2 of their infrastructure talks....
...Trump expressed wariness in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, saying he thought the White House was "being played by the Democrats a little bit. You know, I think what they want me to do is say, 'Well, what we'll do is raise taxes,' and we'll do this and this and this, and then they'll have a news conference, see, 'Trump wants to raise taxes.'"
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dismissed the potential for a sweeping plan or for raising the gas tax at a recent Senate GOP lunch with Vice President Mike Pence, according to those familiar with the meeting. And House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said that it was unrealistic to place the funding decision with the president. Democrats will need to make suggestions, too.
"You don't ask the president, 'Show me how to pay for it,'" Scalise said...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
BIGGEST THEFT IN HISTORY OF THE WORLD
Democrats gave Barack Obama almost $900 Billion to rebuild America’s infrastructure.
Renumber his “Jobs Ready” projects?
But he handed it out to democrats and their supporters all over the world.
How much ended up in democrat pockets and numbered bank accounts?
Remember that Slow-Joe Biden was supposed to track where every dollar was spent?
The money is gone and our bridges and highways never got repaired.
Willie Sutton robbed banks because “That’s where the money is!”, politicians love infrastructure because that’s where the corrupt money is...and lot’s of it!
DK
BOHICA ?
that’s an excellent point. Trump should start the meeting with, you got 900 billion already, show me the receipts for every penny
The worst part for Dems is that most of the pressing infrastructure problems are in their states - and the states themselves are broke.
Obama screwed the states that supported him most with the shovel-ready BS.
It is not infrastructure spending.
Money is fungible.
If this passes, it will be used as a short-term bailout for states bleeding red ink thanks to skyrocketing public pensions and Medicaid costs.
But no one on Capitol Hill has the honesty or the b@lls to call it what it is: a bailout.
It should be an interesting meeting after the 9am impeachment meeting.
We both live in a state where they can’t even build projects where the Federal government pays 75% of the cost ... because the state can’t even come up with the remaining 25%. Welcome to Fail Murphy’s Mordor. :-)
This is a blue state bailout. End federal fuel taxes if we have to spend trillions on making America paved again.
Can’t wait to see the return of the shovel ready memes. They are some of the funniest.
Think how much infrastructure money could be saved by deporting illegals and visa overstays.
The only way to start “infrastructure talks” is not with a price tag, and not absent governors and the heads of state legislatures.
The states play us all the fools. They have poor priorities and then they skip out on the priorities they have. They expect they federal legislators in Congress to bring home the fere gifts from Washington D.C. to cover their internal state corruption and incompetence.
End the federal purse as the “solution” to infrastructure issues. Cut the federal fuels taxes and legislate that what remains of them is dedicated to ONLY US and Interstate highways. The states can then raise state fuels taxes if they want to and can get away with it.
Tell “mass transit” advocates they have to come up with “mass transit based” funding mechanisms. They can’t get funding from motor vehicle drivers.
They ran out of other peoples’ money...
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