Trump, Dems agree on $2 trillion infrastructure spend

The two sides will meet again in about three weeks to discuss how to pay for the package, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described as “big and bold.”

   President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed on Tuesday to a $2 trillion infrastructure package at a White House meeting, but will meet again in about three weeks to discuss how it would be funded.
   “We agreed on a number, which was very, very good: $2 trillion for infrastructure,” Schumer told reporters after the meeting, which included 12 Democratic lawmakers and no Republicans. “Originally we had started it a little lower. Even the president was eager to push it up to $2 trillion.”
   Pelosi described the agreement as “big and bold” and Schumer said it includes roads, bridges, highway and water with emphasis on broadband and the power grid.
   The same group will meet again in about three weeks for President Trump to present his ideas on how the package should be funded, Schumer said. A statement from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the next meeting would include “specific proposals and financing methods.”
   “We told the president that we needed his ideas on funding,” Schumer said. “Where does he propose that we can fund this because certainly in the Senate if we don’t have him on board it will be very hard to get the Senate to go along.”
   Republican lawmakers on Monday questioned how to pay for the bill and opposed an increase in taxes. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Ky., said changing the tax code to pay for the bill was a “nonstarter,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
   A Republican member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said they are working on a proposal to create an infrastructure investment fund to pay for federal priorities like federal highways and bridges and provide block grants to states, The Hill reported.