Trump to make infrastructure push during Camp David retreat

President Trump will push for his long-awaited infrastructure package when he huddles with Republican congressional leaders at Camp David this weekend, as the GOP appears divided about whether the rebuilding effort will be a top priority for the party this year. 

Trump will be hosting House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others in Maryland this weekend to map out the GOP’s 2018 agenda. One of the priorities that will be discussed at the presidential retreat is “rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure,” a White House spokeswoman said Friday. 

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to tackle a $1 trillion infrastructure bill within his first 100 days in office, but the issue slipped to the back burner amid other GOP priorities like health care and tax reform last year.

But Trump hopes to put infrastructure back at the top of his agenda in the New Year.

The White House is supposed to unveil “detailed legislative principles” later this month outlining Trump’s infrastructure vision, which lawmakers will use as a blueprint to craft a bill while Trump works to sell the idea to the public, state and local officials, and members of Congress. 

The issue is also likely to be pitched during Trump’s inaugural State of the Union address on Jan. 30.

But there have been mixed messages from Republican leaders about whether infrastructure will be a top goal for the GOP this year.

McConnell, who is married to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, said Senate Republicans should pursue more bipartisan legislation like infrastructure in the coming year. 

But Ryan said he wants to tackle welfare and entitlement reforms — perhaps using a special budget process to avoid a Democratic filibuster. 

Trump, however, has expressed confidence that both Republicans and Democrats will be eager to help him pass an infrastructure bill this year.

“We’re going to get infrastructure; infrastructure is the easiest of all,” Trump said in the Oval Office last month when he signed the tax bill into law. “People want it, Republicans and Democrats.”

But the ambitious rebuilding effort could actually face roadblocks in both parties. 

Republicans are concerned about new government spending, while Democrats are skeptical about the early details of the proposal and wary of handing Trump another legislative victory.