The Trump administration is in disarray over infrastructure

Building roads, bridges and highways is a top priority for the Trump administration in 2018.
(Image credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

The Trump administration can't seem to get its infrastructure plan straight, with President Trump and his chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, contradicting each other within a 24-hour period on how spending will play out, The Washington Post reports. With the infrastructure plan as one of the main legislative goals for 2018, Trump surprised aides by raising doubts Friday about public-private building partnerships. On Saturday, Cohn nevertheless maintained that the administration wants to spend $200 billion to get the ball rolling on nearly $1 trillion in private and local spending.

A White House official said Trump was only "musing aloud" when he made the comments at Camp David and that the administration is expected to go forward with the public-private partnership plan, the Post writes. Trump, though, "doesn't think they will work," the official also admitted. Either way, the president's comments took some administration officials by surprise, as aides have worked for months on the plan and an official proposal is anticipated by the end of the month.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.