Trump promises ‘first-class’ infrastructure system for US

Staff/wire report

CINCINNATI

President Donald 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 to pay for construction projects that most public officials agree are badly needed and long overdue.

“America must have the best, fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world,” Trump said Wednesday, pushing his infrastructure plan in middle America as Washington geared up for today’s appearance before Congress by fired FBI Director James Comey.

“We will fix it,” said Trump, standing along the Ohio River. “We will create the first-class infrastructure our country and our people deserve.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, joined the three other Ohio Democrats in the U.S. House in writing a letter Wednesday to Trump urging his administration to act on broad policies that invest in America’s infrastructure.

“For too long, our nation’s infrastructure needs have been neglected,” the letter reads. “We welcome your push to correct this situation. However, we believe a wide view in interpreting what entails infrastructure will yield the best results to restore America’s greatness. Investments in foundational assets, such as drinking-water systems, the national electric grid, or efficiency in individual homes, along with roads, our seaports and waterways, bridges and rail investments, will pay dividends for generations to come.”

They also wrote: “Perhaps no opportunity better presents a chance to revitalize the domestic steel industry than an expansive infrastructure initiative. We must view an infrastructure bill as investments to ensure the free flow of people and commerce, but also as an opportunity to invest in our foundational economic sectors. We look forward to working with you to address all of these critical needs and to ensure that our infrastructure investments in this country are as worthy as its people.”

The others signing the letter were U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, D-9th; Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights, D-11th; and Joyce Beatty of Columbus, D-3rd.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, also sent a letter Wednesday to Trump, writing he shares the president’s “goal of promoting economic and national security and supporting the American manufacturing and the U.S. defense industrial base. If implemented in a manner consistent with my legislation, [a] Buy American, Hire American EO [executive order] will put U.S. jobs and U.S. manufacturers first. I urge the administration, through the EO, to seize this opportunity to ensure that all federally funded infrastructure projects use materials produced in the United States.”

The White House has yet to outline specifics of the infrastructure plan.

Trump also planned to discuss infrastructure spending with governors and mayors at the White House today.

U.S. inland waterways are critical routes for transporting agricultural products, but officials say they’ve grown old and run down.

Mike Toohey, president of the Waterways Council Inc, an inland waterways infrastructure advocacy group, said he was pleased to see the president addressing what he called the “silent r” of the transportation system – rivers. Far more attention is usually paid to roadways, railways and runways, he said.

Trump said that as he campaigned across the country last year, people often asked him why the U.S. was spending money to rebuild other countries when the roads and bridges they travel on needed rebuilding, too.

Trump declared the days of spending on other nations are over: “It’s time to rebuild our country” and to “put America first,” he said.

Before the speech, Trump met aboard Air Force One with a pair of families the White House said are “victims” of the Obama-era health care law that the president and congressional Republicans want to repeal and replace.

Contributor: Associated Press