FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Influential Senator Confident an Infrastructure Bill Will Pass
Feb. 20, 2018 (EIRNS)—Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.) told the Washington Examiner’s “Examining Infrastructure” panel on Feb. 15 that he expects an infrastructure funding bill can be passed by Congress before the midterm elections—because President Trump has decided to get a bill through, and because “everyone wants it,” Democrats and Republicans alike.
Inhofe chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, which is already drafting the framework for an infrastructure bill, he reported. Senator Inhofe, a conservative, has his own “marketplace” views about how to fund infrastructure, but believes federal support for infrastructure is necessary. He believes various ways of funding are all up for discussion now.
Inhofe expressed his confidence in President Trump, reporting how he first met Trump early on in the presidential campaign, when he was invited to participate in a policy discussion in New York. That’s when I saw a Trump you never see on TV, Inhofe said; sitting around a table with 13 invited experts on all kinds of topics, asking questions, listening and taking notes. Trump does one thing at a time, and now he is in “with both feet” on infrastructure, he asserted. My impression is that he decides what he’s going to do, and then he goes ahead and does it—unlike most politicians.
“And this is going to be popular. For that reason, I think, it’s going to move pretty fast,” Inhofe said, recounting that there was a lot of agreement last Wednesday when the House and Senate transportation committee chairs, Republican and Democrat, met with the President. There was a lot of discussion of sources of funding there, he stated.
The Examiner panel discussion was co-sponsored by the Auto Care Association and the Government Affairs Industry Network, and, in addition to Inhofe, featured Auto Care Association President and CEO Bill Hanvey, Rockville, Maryland Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton, and Jim Corcoran, Board of Directors Second Vice Chair, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
