Trump Promises 'New Monuments to American Grit'

The president pitched his $1T infrastructure plan
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 7, 2017 6:29 PM CDT
Trump Promises 'New Monuments to American Grit'
President Trump speaks during a rally at the Rivertowne Marina on Wednesday in Cincinnati. Trump promised to create a "first-class" system of roads, bridges, and waterways by using $200 billion in public funds to generate $1 trillion in investment.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Speaking in front of a coal barge in Cincinnati, President Trump promised Wednesday to construct a "first class" system of roads, bridges, and waterways along with "incredible new monuments to American grit," the AP reports. Trump was in Ohio talking up his infrastructure plans, which include turning $200 billion in public funds into $1 trillion in infrastructure investment. "There is no limit to what we can achieve," Reuters quotes Trump as saying. "All it takes is a bold and daring vision and the will to make it happen." Trump's plan would see the repairing of bridges and roads, the privatizing of air traffic control, and more. He told those assembled that he didn't want to see the US become a "museum of former glory."

Trump's infrastructure plans remain short on details, and his speech Wednesday lacked specifics. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says a detailed proposal is coming by the end of September. Infrastructure was originally one of the areas where Trump had the most bipartisan support, the New York Times reports. But that has eroded. The mayor of Cincinnati called Trump out for promising to rehabilitate a major bridge in the city then cutting funding to the Highway Trust Fund. And Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer says Trump's proposed budget actually cuts $206 billion from infrastructure spending. Trump's speech was quickly overshadowed by the Senate releasing a transcript of former FBI Director James Comey's planned testimony. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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