COMMERCE/INFRASTRUCTURE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue last week was nearing the end of a speech urging Congress to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure when he offered another option: At least make it easier to build things when the money can be found…
President Donald Trump hasn’t said where he will find $200 billion in budget savings that the White House says it will use as a down payment on an infrastructure package that it hopes will generate more than $1 trillion in spending over 10 years.
But money isn’t going to be the only impetus in the president’s infrastructure push. The administration is hoping to roll back regulations in place for decades to reduce the period between project approval and construction, limiting environmental reviews and litigation in favor of getting big things built.
The effort is likely to face resistance from environmental groups and their Democratic allies in Congress. But the president’s advisers believe they can alter the permitting process in ways that change how the government builds roads, bridges, rails and pipelines for years to come… The campaign is part of a broad Trump administration effort to roll back regulations and constraints on business across the federal government. Mr. Trump has said he hopes to cut back the volume of federal regulations to levels of the 1960s. That deregulatory agenda has drawn support from business groups who say it will boost the economy, but it has prompted concern from environmental advocates and consumer groups who warn that the administration risks undoing years of progress in reducing accidents and pollution.”
-Ted Mann, “Trump’s Infrastructure Push Targets Permit Rules,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 25, 2018 05:30am