President Trump threatened to veto House Democrats’ $1.5 trillion green infrastructure plan on Monday, arguing it should eliminate or reduce environmental reviews and doesn’t route enough money to rural America. The bill contains billions to repair the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges while setting aside funds for broadband, schools, and hospitals. It would also require states to commit to reducing greenhouse gases and other climate measures in order to receive funding.
According to The Hill, Republicans have branded it as an iteration of the Green New Deal crated without their input.
“This bill is problematic for several reasons. It is heavily biased against rural America. It also appears to be entirely debt-financed. And it fails to tackle the issue of unnecessary permitting delays, which are one of the most significant impediments to improving our infrastructure,” the White House wrote in a statement of administrative policy, saying the bill “is full of wasteful ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives.”
The veto message reiterated Trump’s interest in paring down the environmental reviews that accompany major projects, calling the delays caused by permitting “one of the biggest roadblocks to improving the nation’s infrastructure.”
The bulk of the Democrats’ infrastructure package is geared toward transportation measures that funnel money to public transit and require states to consider climate change when weighting projects.
