Following a presidential campaign that promised significant infrastructure investments, and just over 60 years after President Eisenhower launched the federal highway system in 1956, a national infrastructure commitment is rising near the top of issues to be addressed this year.

Executive Branch Agenda -

While President-elect Trump has not sketched out in detail his $1 trillion, 10-year infrastructure plan, he proposed a blueprint during the campaign that may receive congressional attention in 2017. Infrastructure affords potentially one of the few areas of agreement between congressional Democrats and the president-elect, but Mr. Trump’s plan relies primarily on tax incentives designed to leverage public-private partnerships, and Democratic legislators heavily favor direct federal spending. Congressional Democrats had hoped last Congress to form a national infrastructure bank, but their Republican colleagues vehemently opposed the bank. That being said, Congress did pass a 6-year highway bill and a new Water Resources Development Act last Congress, but a $1 trillion price tag for infrastructure investments will be difficult for many in Congress to approve. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for example, has repeatedly said that the 115th Congress will not approve another Recovery Act – which “only” cost $800 billion – and he is joined by many of his colleagues in opposing significant new federal infrastructure spending, especially in light of the country’s national debt.