NEW YORK—Vice President-elect Mike Pence is pledging to a group of mayors that the Trump administration will make a serious investment in infrastructure.
Speaking Tuesday to a meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, Pence said President-elect Donald Trump told him to pass on that “we’re going to do an infrastructure bill and it’s going to be big.”
Trump, who consistently lamented the state of American bridges, roads and airports on the campaign trail, has promised to invest $1 trillion in transportation and infrastructure spending.
Pence also said the new administration will work with cities as partners. He looked ahead to Friday’s inauguration, saying it will mark “the dawn of a new era for our country, it’s an era of growth and opportunity and renewed greatness for America.”
Trump was set to make his first Washington trip in weeks Tuesday, as his inauguration festivities approach.
Trump planned to fly in for a dinner honoring Tom Barrack, his longtime friend and head of the Inauguration Committee. The president-elect will return to New York after the dinner. He'll make his final trip to Washington on Thursday to attend a concert at the Lincoln Memorial and to stay, as is custom for incoming presidents, at Blair House, the presidential guest quarters, the night before he’s sworn in.
In New York on Tuesday, Trump met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg. Trump had previously criticized the cost of Boeing’s Air Force One program.
“We made some great progress to refine requirements for Air Force One, to streamline the process, to streamline certain features, all of that will lead to a better airplane at a lower cost,” Muilenberg said after the meeting. He said Trump “is doing a good job as an agent of business” and added that more conversations would be forthcoming. He did not set a timeline on settling on a final price tag.
At issue is a proposal called “border adjustment” that would tax imports to the U.S. while exempting exports. It’s part of a sweeping planned rewrite of the U.S. tax code aimed at lowering overall rates on corporations from 35 percent to 20 percent.
“Anytime I hear border adjustment, I don’t love it,” Trump said.
European Union nations bracing for Trump’s ascension showed defiance Monday in the face of the president-elect’s stinging comments on everything from NATO and German cars to the crumbling of the European Union.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the Trump’s view that NATO was obsolete and his criticism that European allied members aren’t paying their fair share had “caused astonishment.”
Trump also said that Britain’s decision to leave the 28-nation EU would “end up being a great thing,” and he predicted that other countries would also leave.
Also this week, Trump’s picks for Cabinet posts continue their trek to Capitol Hill to win support from lawmakers considering their confirmation for Cabinet positions.
On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana was scheduled to make his case to be interior secretary. And Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick for education secretary, has a confirmation hearing Tuesday evening.
