New Dems Push President to Prioritize Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation

WASHINGTON – The House New Democrat Coalition has asked President Donald Trump to recommit to negotiations on an infrastructure investment plan, highlighting the many benefits of bipartisan cooperation on a vital national issue.

In a letter written by the coalition’s Infrastructure Task Force, 70 members of the caucus call for Trump to provide increased and reliable funding for scores of projects across the country.

The Coalition noted that the nation’s roads and bridges and airports are “the most immediate ways Americans interact with their government on a daily basis,” and that the issues extend far beyond partisanship.

“After all, nobody cares what party you are in when sitting in traffic,” the letter said.

“We must work across the aisle to rebuild, repair, and expand our nation’s infrastructure,” it added.

“Infrastructure projects are consistently evaluated as the best return on government investments, so investing in our infrastructure is more than just good politics, it is good economics,” the letter said.

The New Democrat Coalition has long been concerned with the issue of infrastructure and has repeatedly tried to kick start the process of getting needed projects done.

During the 115th Congress, the Coalition released a list of objectives that included modernization of infrastructure, creation of an infrastructure bank to finance projects and grant programs for communities that most needed improvement, and further encouragement of innovation and reform.

Trump has repeatedly said how important repairing American infrastructure is to his administration, but he broke off negotiations with House and Senate Democrats due to ongoing investigations of the 2016 presidential campaign in the House.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave US infrastructure a rating of D+ in their 2017 report card.

Also in 2017 the society said that they estimated fixing the infrastructure would cost more than $4.6 trillion dollars.