Trump: Infrastructure overhaul will likely come after midterms

President Trump acknowledged Thursday that an infrastructure plan in Congress will likely come after the 2018 midterm elections, arguing that Democrats don’t want to provide Republicans with a win.

“I’ve asked Republicans and Democrats in Congress to come together and deliver the biggest and boldest infrastructure plan in the last half-century,” Trump told a crowd of union workers in Ohio.

“I don’t think you’re going to get Democrat support very much. And you’ll probably have to wait until after the election, which isn’t so long down the road. But we’re going to get this infrastructure going.”

The comments deal a blow to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee lawmakers and industry leaders who have long pushed for rebuilding legislation.

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Trump’s remarks come as the administration’s infrastructure proposal appears to have stalled in Congress after its release last month.

“We probably have to wait until after the election because the Democrats say, ‘don’t give him anymore wins,'” Trump said Thursday.

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), who is retiring at the end of his current term, has said he’d like to work with ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) on a bill that Shuster argues must be bipartisan in order to succeed.

Meanwhile, both the White House and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have said an infrastructure overhaul will come about through multiple pieces of legislation, including last week’s omnibus spending package, a must-pass reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), a waterways bill Congress regularly re-ups every two years.

“It can be passed in one bill or a series of measures,” Trump said Thursday.

His comments came a day after a senior administration official also cast doubt that the president would achieve all the components of his overhaul plan this year, telling reporters that it would be “more of a stretch” for an entire infrastructure bill to move through Congress in 2018.

“We see quite a bit of movement on Capitol Hill right now on different elements of the president’s plan. So I think the odds that pieces of this pass this year are very, very high,” the official said.

The president traveled to Richfield, Ohio, on Thursday to make his first public speech advocating for the rebuilding blueprint, which calls for $200 billion of federal seed money with the goal of generating a $1.5 trillion package.

Trump touted various part of his proposal, including the move to streamline the permitting process for infrastructure projects, invest in rural regions and widen the practice of apprenticeships.

“We will breath new life into your very rundown highways, railways and waterways,” Trump told the International Union of Operating Engineers.

“We’ll transform our roads and bridges from a source of endless frustration to a source of absolutely incredible pride. And we’re going to do it all under budget and ahead of schedule.”

Updated: 4:07 p.m.