White House places new demands on Democrats ahead of infrastructure session
Hours before President Trump is set to meet with Democratic leaders on funding for an infrastructure deal, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said congressional Democrats need to figure out their infrastructure priorities before there can be a conversation on how to pay for a plan. “They don’t even know what infrastructure means to them, so we need to see those things defined before we can put a price tag on it and figure out how to pay for it,” Sanders told reporters on the White House driveway Wednesday morning.
Trump is set to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday to discuss funding for the plan. The group also met April 30 and agreed to a $2 trillion figure for an infrastructure deal.
Republicans and Democrats have so far been unable to agree on a payment method, however, with many Democrats favoring a federal gas tax increase and some Republicans preferring a tax on vehicle miles traveled. Trump has previously endorsed a 25-cent gas tax hike, but then said last Friday that Democrats were playing “a little bit of a game” in trying to convince him to raise the gas tax. And on Tuesday night, Trump cast further doubt on prospects for Wednesday’s meeting in a letter to Pelosi and Schumer that insisted the passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the administration’s replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, must come before an infrastructure deal. “Before we get to infrastructure, it is my strong view that Congress should first pass the important and popular USMCA trade deal,” Trump wrote. “Once Congress has passed USMCA, we should turn our attention to a bipartisan infrastructure package.”
Pelosi and Schumer responded in a joint press statement Wednesday evening. "On Wednesday, we look forward to hearing the President's plan for how to pay for this package," the leaders wrote.
Sanders said Democrats were divided over infrastructure and needed to decide what they wanted in the deal. “We also need Democrats to decide what infrastructure means to them,” Sanders said. “It can’t mean everything that exists. Infrastructure has to be defined. We need to know what their priorities are and what they want to see done, whether it’s really going to be about rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, whether it’s about expanding broadband, or whether it’s some of these crazy Green New Deal proposals. They have a divide within their own party.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house-places-news-demands-on-democrats-ahead-of-infrastructure-session
Trump Calls on Democrats to Put Trade Pact Before Infrastructure Package
President, due to meet Pelosi and Schumer on road and bridge rebuilding, says USMCA approval is priority
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-calls-on-democrats-to-put-trade-pact-before-infrastructure-package-11558484733?mod=rsswn