Trump, Pelosi will meet to discuss US infrastructure

US president Donald Trump and House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) plan to meet to discuss US infrastructure, potentially laying the groundwork for a bipartisan bill that would increase federal spending on highways, roads and bridges.

A specific date has not been set, but the plans for a meeting are already reviving hopes among industry groups that a detailed infrastructure funding package could be pushed back into the political spotlight, after a previous string of failed legislation attempts in Congress. Rebuilding US infrastructure was a key component of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign pledge, but efforts to agree on ways to fund infrastructure efforts have been repeatedly derailed by other items on the political agenda.

The White House reiterated calls for infrastructure spending in its fiscal year 2020 budget proposal, saying it would provide $200bn of federal seed money to generate a total $1.5 trillion in investment from the state and private sector. The Trump administration has consistently pushed for the majority of infrastructure funding to come from states, local governments, and private-public partnerships, rather than the federal government.

Pelosi (D-California) is meanwhile seeking legislation worth between $1 trillion and $2 trillion to improve the nation's infrastructure.

Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress remain split on how to pay for infrastructure and plug a deficit in the US highway trust fund. Republicans generally oppose effort to raise the 18¢/USG federal tax on gasoline for the first time since 1993. They instead have pushed to remove "red tape" to construction and start charging road usage taxes on electric vehicles. Democrats are also reluctant to shoulder all the responsibility for raising pump prices.

Transport lobbying groups have sought to generate more support for the idea. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) launched a comprehensive media campaign to promote a 20¢/gal increase in the federal gas tax to help raise funding for US roadways and infrastructure.

Asphalt demand, heavily dependent on public spending for road projects, is expected to benefit from a larger infrastructure package. Several states have already passed traditionally unpopular measures to raise taxes to replenish funds for state paving projects. Louisiana is the latest state to seek an increase in gasoline and diesel taxes, aiming to double them over the next 12 years to fund major highway and bridge improvements.