The House and Senate committees that are expected to take the lead in writing any major infrastructure legislation this year each held recent hearings where their members heard testimony from Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao about the Trump administration’s $200 billion infrastructure plan that was released in February. But while several individual members of each panel expressed enthusiasm about investing in water and other infrastructure, none promised to consider the Trump plan as-is, and other congressional leaders have expressed little enthusiasm for passing legislation based on the administration’s proposal.
Secretary Chao appeared this month at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and another held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure panel. Chao’s testimony before each committee noted that the administration’s plan is intended to offer assistance to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects, along with several other sectors, while aiming to incentivize new local infrastructure spending, eliminate burdensome regulations, and prioritize support for rural communities.
But Republican leaders on Capitol Hill appear to be in no hurry to formulate a major infrastructure spending bill based on the Trump plan. Senate Majority Leader John Cornyn (R-Tex.) was quoted by Politico last month saying that action on an infrastructure bill this year would be “hard” because Congress has “so many other things to do and we don't have much time” before lawmakers begin to turn their attention to the midterm elections.
The House of Representatives also appears unlikely to write infrastructure legislation based on the White House plan. Speaking at the March 6 hearing with Secretary Chao, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Penn.) said he hopes to “develop a plan that attracts bipartisan support, and can pass the Senate,” but did not pledge to focus his bill primarily on the administration’s proposal.
In recent months other lawmakers have suggested that House leaders could attempt to piece together an infrastructure package based on smaller bills that have already been approved by various House committees. Among the measures that could find its way into larger House legislation is H.R. 3387, a bill approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee last year that would reauthorize the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and update portions of the Safe Drinking Water Act.