President Donald Trump’s broad overtures on infrastructure investment during his first State of the Union address have industry observers worried that the administration’s eventual proposal and Congress’ subsequent efforts to flesh it out will fall short of the nation’s needs when it comes to devising a firm spending plan.
Steven A. Nichols, co-chair of Rutan & Tucker LLP’s construction law group, said the president’s $1.5 trillion target may be less than what’s needed. He said most current studies suggest that the country needs more than $2 trillion over the next decade to upgrade and replace its aging infrastructure in ways that will allow the U.S. economy to compete with growing economies around the world.
“The issues in coming months will center on the ability of our leaders in Washington to enact the legislation necessary to fund the infrastructure development that is now at a level of critical need in the United States,” Nichols said. “We will wait and see.”
