The Hill | By: Melanie Zanona | 07/20/17:
The timing and fate of President Trump’s infrastructure plan may depend on whether the GOP enacts major tax reform — a task that could prove challenging amid the struggle to pass a healthcare bill.
Republicans are signaling that a massive rebuilding package, which has long been one of Trump’s top priorities, will most likely have to wait on the sidelines until lawmakers overhaul the tax code.
But with that process likely to be just as time-consuming and daunting as healthcare, infrastructure could be pushed to the back burner.
“I’d like to see infrastructure get done,” Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s No. 3 Republican and chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, told reporters Wednesday. “But I’ve always said, that in terms of how things are sequenced, it’s more likely that they would do tax reform first. And that might push infrastructure into sometime next year.”
Congressional Republicans have been weighing their next legislative steps after an effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare stalled in the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the GOP would now be moving on “to comprehensive tax reform and to infrastructure,” though he is still pushing toward a healthcare vote next week.
But if the GOP does decide to pivot to tax reform or infrastructure, they face a big obstacle: not having legislation for either.
Trump released a one-page outline on tax reform earlier this year, while House Republicans released a blueprint in June 2016 as part of Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “Better Way” agenda.
The White House seems to be further along on a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, which is expected to be released this fall. The administration laid out some details about Trump’s vision for the plan in his budget request and dropped more clues about the bill during an “Infrastructure Week” initiative at the White House.
Trump’s push to upgrade U.S. roads, bridges and other public works has also been viewed as one potential area that could attract Democratic support.
But even with bipartisan interest and steady progress on the infrastructure proposal, there seems to be growing consensus — even among transportation advocates in Congress — that tax reform will come first.
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