What's Next for Infrastructure?

Posted on April 17, 2018

Lawmakers are back in Washington after a two-week break. But as they’re coming back into town, a key figure in the Trump administration is set to depart.

DJ Gribbin, the man who drafted President Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan, is leaving the administration. A White House official told reporters Gribbin wants to pursue “new opportunities.”

The infrastructure plan Gribbin helped pull together aims to spend $200 billion in federal money and generate roughly $1.5 trillion in overall infrastructure spending. Improving the nation’s infrastructure and transportation networks is a NAIOP legislative priority.

The Trump plan won’t be an easy sell, with or without its architect. Democrats have ripped the plan. “Rather than cutting existing infrastructure projects to pay for a paltry program, we want to roll back the Republican tax giveaways to big corporations and the wealthy and invest that money instead in job-creating infrastructure,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said when the plan was announced.

It’s also not clear that any proposals will be able to move forward in an election year. The president himself admitted recently the plan may have to wait until after the November elections before it could advance.

However, even as the infrastructure plan remains on the drawing board, lawmakers have agreed to spend federal money on various infrastructure projects.

The fiscal year 2018 budget, passed last month and signed by the president, “includes billions more for roads, bridges, airports and transit and water projects,” the Washington Post reported. “It’s not the exact way we would have done it, but it accomplishes many of the goals we had,” Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen told the Post.

Share this post: