Infrastructure Package Unlikely To Move This Year, White House Admits

Published on May 9, 2018 in Broadband's Impact/Infrastructure/White House by Andrew Feinberg

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2018 -- Prospects for the Trump administration's $1.5 trillion infrastructure package appear to have dimmed to the point that White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders admitted Wednesday that she can't say there would be any movement on that legislation by year's end.

"I don't know that there will be one by the end of this year," Sanders said when asked if there was any possibility that standalone legislation implementing Trump's proposal would move through Congress before the 2018 midterms.

Sanders noted, however, that the White House has managed to get some funding for its infrastructure priorities inserted into other bills.

"Certainly, the administration secured some funding for infrastructure projects, we also laid out priorities for what we wanted to see in an infrastructure legislation package. We're going to continue to look at ways to improve the nation's infrastructure, but in terms of a specific piece of legislation, I'm not aware that that will happen by the end of the year."

The Trump administration has secured some funding for rural broadband

While the odds for Trump's package -- which included $50 billion for which rural broadband projects would be eligible -- have gotten longer, the omnibus appropriations bill Trump signed in March did include $600 million set aside for rural broadband.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said at the time that the $600 million "dovetails nicely with President Trump’s bold agenda to restore and expand the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, which will include massive investment in rural America.”

(creative commons photo: Sarah Sanders speaks during a May 2017 press briefing)

Andrew Feinberg is the White House Correspondent and Managing Editor for Breakfast Media. He rejoined BroadbandBreakfast.com in late 2016 after working as a staff writer at The Hill and as a freelance writer. He worked at BroadbandBreakfast.com from its founding in 2008 to 2010, first as a Reporter and then as Deputy Editor. He also covered the White House for Russia's Sputnik News from the beginning of the Trump Administration until he was let go for refusing to use White House press briefings to promote conspiracy theories, and later documented the experience in a story which set off a chain of events leading to Sputnik being forced to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Andrew's work has appeared in such publications as The Hill, Politico, Communications Daily, Washington Internet Daily, Washington Business Journal, The Sentinel Newspapers, FastCompany.TV, Mashable, and Silicon Angle.