Cuomo, Pelosi Say Infrastructure Will Drag Under Trump

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are warning that proposed funding for improvements to United States infrastructure will lag under the current Trump administration.

The New York Daily News reports the two prominent Democrats issued their warning to states during a panel conversation at the National Governors Association’s winter meeting in Washington D.C. on Sunday.

Infrastructure has long been one of the few bipartisan beacons of hope for congressional action during the Trump administration and has endured as such for years prior. Now, amid failed impeachment efforts, political retribution and a more rabid political environment than ever, it appears those hopes have been all but dashed.

“This was never a partisan issue. We all came together and worked to build the infrastructure of America,” Pelosi said. “We’ve talked about all these things, whether it’s transportation, roads, mass transit, high speed rail... but when it came time to talk about paying for it is when the president walked out of the room.”

The Speaker, who was instrumental in Trump’s would-be undoing from impeachment, went on to say that Trump “reversed the formula” for infrastructure funding, and the feds now cough up just 20 percent of the cost for some major projects instead of 80 percent and that tax cuts enacted under Trump have severely limited the dollars available for state aide.

For his own part, Governor Cuomo is awaiting billions in overdue federal funds for the extension of the Second Ave. Subway to East Harlem and the construction of two new passenger rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River, as well as several other key projects he said is critical to the city’s growth.

He said he’s not hopeful that cooperation will be forthcoming from an administration with whom he has been at bitter odds since his arrival to the White House and even before. A few months ago, Trump officially changed his state of residence to Florida and moved out of New York, to which the Governor replied “Good riddance.”