President Trump will seek to put a spotlight on his vows to privatize the nation's air traffic control system and spur $1 trillion in new investment in roads, waterways and other infrastructure with a week-long series of events starting Monday in the Rose Garden.
The events — billed as ”infrastructure week" — are part of a stepped-up effort since the president's return a week ago from his first foreign trip to show that the White House remains focused on its agenda, despite cascading headlines about his administration's ties to Russia.
Trump's plans next week also include a trip to the Ohio River, where it separates Ohio and Kentucky, to talk about the importance of waterways and to lay out his vision of infrastructure investments more broadly, aides say. And before the weekend, he will also welcome a bipartisan group of mayors and governors to Washington to discuss the topic and venture to the Transportation Department to talk about roads and railways.
”In many of these areas, we're falling behind, and the falling behind is affecting economic growth in the United States," said Gary Cohn, Trump's chief economic adviser, who is helping lead a task force developing Trump's infrastructure plan. ”The president wants to fix the problem."
The flurry of planned activity comes as two other marquee Trump promises — overhauling the Affordable Care Act and cutting taxes — remain stalled in Congress, largely because of differences among fellow Republicans and the intricacies of the plans.
It's unclear whether Trump's promised infrastructure package, for which the administration hopes to attract bipartisan support, will fare any better when formally introduced in coming months.
