Senators,
Representatives and construction industry trade association officials all hoped
to hear details of the $1 trillion ten year infrastructure investment plan
promised by President Trump during the campaign, but in spite of her nearly certain
confirmation, Elaine Chao’s testimony at her confirmation hearing before the
Senate Commerce, Science and Technology Committee was singularly
unenlightening, devoid of details, and embarrassingly disappointing. Combined
with President Trump’s statements in interviews after the election that putting
people to work building infrastructure is “not a very Republican thing. I didn’t
even know that, frankly,” and that infrastructure won’t be a core part of the
first few years of his administration, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell’s statement to reporters that he wants to avoid a $1 trillion
stimulus, Chao’s testimony puzzled Association of General Contractors spokesman
Brian Turmail: “Are we hearing signs that people just don’t know what the plan
is, or signs that people don’t want any kind of plan? We don’t know the answer.”
While acknowledging in
her remarks that Highway Trust Fund revenues fall $10 billion short of spending
every year, and that attracting the promised private investment in
infrastructure projects is a “major challenge,” Chao offered no specific
proposals for solving either difficulty. All she would say is that “the pay-fors
for any infrastructure proposals are all challenging and all have their
particular champions and also detractors.” Guess everybody except President Trump
knew that already.
