Trump Ends Infrastructure Council
After signing an executive order to form an advisory council on infrastructure last month, President Donald Trump has decided to terminate the process.
After signing an executive order to form an advisory council on infrastructure last month, President Donald Trump has decided to terminate the process.
This decision, first reported by Bloomberg News, follows the President’s announcement to end two other councils just one day earlier.
Backlash from Trump’s comments on the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, (in which he placed blame on “both sides,” seemingly empathizing with white supremacists) caused business leaders, CEOS and other members to back out, leaving the two councils – the Manufacturing Council and the Strategy & Policy Forum – largely undermined. This prompted the President’s decision to terminate both councils, which he announced on Twitter Wednesday.
However, no explanation has been given behind his choice to end the infrastructure council, which was still being formed.
No more than 15 members representing real estate, finance, labor and other sectors would have made up the advisors to assist Trump with his infrastructure plan to spend as much as $1 trillion upgrading roads, bridges and other public works.
Per the executive order, members were to "study the scope and effectiveness of, and make findings and recommendations to the President regarding, federal government funding, support, and delivery of infrastructure projects in several sectors, including surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resources, renewable energy generation, electricity transmission, broadband, pipelines, and other such sectors as determined by the Council."
Although infrastructure was a high priority during Trump’s campaign when he promised to pass a wholesale infrastructure reform bill as President, it has since fallen behind the administration’s more primary focuses on passing health care and tax reforms.