The GOP is hailing Trump's infrastructure plan as a major accomplishment. It's never gotten close to being passed.


The GOP compiled a list of President Trump's #winning record to celebrate his administration's accomplishments — including an infrastructure plan that has yet to go into effect.
In a blog post published Monday, the GOP hailed "500 Days of American Greatness" since Trump took office, counting down from $700 billion in defense spending to "0: The number of days Hillary Clinton has served as president."
David Frum, an editor at The Atlantic, pointed out that the summary "twice cites non-existent infrastructure plans" as some of the president's big accomplishments. Indeed, part of Trump's "American Greatness" list includes $200 billion in federal money that is "dedicated to improving America's infrastructure" and another $50 billion "dedicated to rural infrastructure."
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Both are supposedly a part of Trump's infrastructure plan, but there's just one problem with that claim: Trump himself said that his plan wouldn't go into effect until after the 2018 midterms. CNBC reports that Trump blamed Democrats for delaying his long-awaited infrastructure plan. The White House describes the plan as an initiative that "will lead to" at least $1.5 trillion in local investments, by spending about $200 billion.
The list also touted low unemployment rates and newly-restarted potato exports to Japan among Trump's accomplishments. Even though the major infrastructure plan has stalled since his administration announced it in February, the fact that Trump is "dedicated" to this plan is apparently #winning enough for the GOP.
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Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.
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