Infrastructure Package Unlikely To Move This Year, White House Admits

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)