WASHINGTON — House Democrats want to enact a massive infrastructure package upgrading the nation’s broadband, road and water systems, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, in the next installment of Congress’ effort to help the country weather the destructive blows inflicted by the coronavirus outbreak.
Pelosi said the measure would be in the range of the $2 trillion that President Donald Trump cited in a tweet Tuesday announcing his own support for such a job creation effort. But even under unparalleled health and economic crises, the fate of infrastructure proposals remains uncertain.
Republicans have qualms about whether such a costly proposal is yet needed, and infrastructure plans have a recent history of going nowhere. They’ve long been bedeviled by disagreements over how to finance them, encapsulated in Washington by jokes about “infrastructure week,” shorthand for Trump plans to roll out specific proposals that end up never appearing.
Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters that Democrats’ infrastructure plan would “address some of the critical impacts and vulnerability in America that have been laid bare by the coronavirus.”
But powerful Republicans are already tapping the brakes. They note that Congress and Trump have just pumped $2.2 trillion into the economy — all by adding to the national debt — to try preserving jobs and financing the country’s battle against the rapidly spreading and sometimes deadly infection.
“We just borrowed significantly” for the $2.2 trillion measure, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said in an interview Wednesday. “I want to make sure that gets implemented fully before turning to borrowing more money and spending more money.”
He also said that if the economy still needs a boost down the road, building infrastructure projects “is the best way to do it.”
Pelosi’s still-evolving plan would be centered on a $760 billion, five-year framework that House Democrats unveiled in January. It includes money to rebuild roads, mass transit, rail systems, wireless communications networks and water projects.
Trump threw another wild card into the mix Tuesday when he embraced using the next round for a massive infrastructure package.
“It should be VERY BIG & BOLD, Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4,” Trump tweeted.
