Trump says infrastructure plan could top $1 trillion
President Donald Trump told chief executives of major companies on Tuesday that his administration is working on an infrastructure plan worth $1 trillion or maybe more.
Trump told the audience that he wants to speed up permitting for road and bridge projects and that federal money wouldn’t go to projects that couldn’t be started within three months.
“If you have a job that you can’t start within 90 days, we’re not going to give you the money for it,” he said.
Trump spoke at a “CEO town hall” run by the White House and attended by the heads of companies including JetBlue Airways JBLU, -0.63% , Vornado Realty Trust VNO, +0.77% and MasterCard MA, -0.13% . More than 50 executives attended.
“We’re talking about a very major infrastructure bill of a trillion dollars, perhaps even more,” Trump said.
Trump didn’t detail how the trillion-plus dollars would be funded. At the same event, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the administration plans to unveil a bill in May. She described the trillion dollars as being spread over 10 years.
The administration is reportedly considering a combination of $100 billion to $200 billion in federal dollars and offering tax credits to private companies. During the campaign, Trump advisers floated a plan of tax credits as an incentive for a trillion dollars in private investment.
The White House is working on infrastructure and tax reform plans, and there has been speculation that the two could be combined. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported the Trump administration is exploring the creation of two controversial taxes — a value-added tax and a carbon tax — as revenue raisers for tax reform.
Deputy White House Press Secretary Lindsay Walters said in a statement that “as of now, neither a carbon tax nor a VAT are under consideration.” She said Trump’s team is getting input from experts on all sides of the tax reform debate.
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