Trump pushes public works agenda, health care on Ohio visit

CINCINNATI (AP) — President Donald Trump is using the Ohio River as the backdrop for a speech about upgrading roads, bridges and waterways, but before talking about overhauling aging infrastructure, he urged the Senate to follow the House and vote on a bill to overhaul the health care system.

"Now it's the Senate's turn to act," Trump said this afternoon after meeting aboard Air Force One with a pair of families the White House described as "victims" of the Obama-era health care law that the president and congressional Republicans want to repeal and replace.

Trump said the families – one from Ohio and one from Kentucky – are going through "turmoil" along with millions of other consumers faced with rising premiums and limited choice for health coverage under the law.

"Obamacare is in a total death spiral and the problems will only get worse if Congress fails to act," Trump said.

As the White House tries to shift the focus back to Trump's legislative agenda, the president traveled to the Rivertowne Marina in Cincinnati to argue his case for efforts to repair aging levees, dams, locks and ports, as well as his larger public works aims.

"The American people deserve the best infrastructure in the world," he was expected to say, according to speech excerpts released by the White House.

The White House has yet to detail specifics of the plan, which it hopes to achieve largely through public-private partnerships. It has proposed funding the improvements with $200 billion in tax breaks over nine years that would – in theory – leverage $1 trillion worth of construction.

The speech came a day before former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to Congress Thursday and as the White House faces new allegations about possible efforts by the president to influence the investigation into potential ties between his campaign and Russia.