Report: U.S. infrastructure plans may take a back seat to tax reform

With Washington focused on health care laws and Republicans aiming for immediate tax reform, Trump’s infrastructure plans may not materialize until much later than anticipated, according to a recent report from The Hill.    Congressional Republicans may push infrastructure improvement plans to the back burner in order to first overhaul the U.S. tax code, according to a recent article from The Hill.
   “I’d like to see infrastructure get done,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “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.”
   Currently, Washington is embroiled in a battle over health care legislation to replace and/or repeal the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obama-care,” but the White House is still pushing out details on infrastructure proposals. The $1 trillion infrastructural plan by President Trump would presumably have bipartisan support, but would still be overtaken by tax reform, according to leading GOP lawmakers.
   “[Infrastructure] is obviously one of the things teed up and possible to move on, but we’ve also got a tax bill out there, too,” said Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. “We need that tax bill before we do infrastructure, because some of the pay-fors are in that.”
   However, on July 19, the president established an advisory council on infrastructure, comprised of 15 members, to represent the interests of the follow infrastructure segments: real estate, finance, construction, technology, transportation, labor, environmental policy, economic development and “other sectors”, according to the Federal Register item on the council notice.
   The council’s mission, according to the notice, is to study the scope and effectiveness of government funding, support and delivery of infrastructure projects and to determine infrastructure priorities. A final report from the council is due by December 2018, whereby the council will be terminated.